UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


FROM  THH    LIBRARY   ()! 


BENJAMIN  PARKE  AVERY. 


GIFT  OF  MRS.  AVERY, 

August,  1806. 

Access  ions  A/it  > .  (p  ,  /  In  f  U        Ch  i  s  s  M  > . 


WONDERS    OF   THE    DEEP. 


WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 


A  COMPANION  TO 


STRAY  LEAVES  FROM  THE  BOOK  OF  NATURE. 


BY 


M,  SCHELE  DE  VERE. 


NEW  YORK: 
G.    P.    PUTNAM   &   SON,    661    BROADWAY. 


ENTERED  AccoRDma  TO  ACT  OP  CONGRESS,  IN  THE  YEAR  1869, 
BY  G.  P.  PUTNAM  &  SON, 

IN  THE  CLERK'S  OFFICE  OP  THE  DISTRICT  COURT  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES  POR 
THE  SOUTHERN  DISTRICT  OP  NEW  YORK. 


STEREOTYPED  BY 

DENNIS  BRO'S  &  THORNE, 
AUBURN,  N.   Y. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  FABLES  AND  FACTS 7 

II.  ODD  FISH 88 

III.  PEARLS 75 

IV.  CORALS 103 

V.  THE  KNIGHT  IN  ARMOR 125 

VI.  A  PINCH  OP  SALT 145 

VII.  MINE  OYSTER 176 

VIII.  LIGHT  AT  SEA 213 

IX.  LIGHT-HOUSE   STORIES 248 

X.  A  GRAIN  OF  SAND 287 

XI.  MERCURY 302 

XII.  THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  . .  .328 


&^ 

[U'liyBRSIIYJ 

^^ttrj$£^ 

WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 


i. 
.FABLES  AND  FACTS. 

"Whence  and  what  art  thou,  execrable  shape."— MELTOW. 

mHE  great  sea  has  its  mountains  and  its  deep  val- 
leys, with  forests  of  weird,  waving  plants  on  the 
former,  and,  far  down  in  the  dark  dells,  masses  of  dismal 
debris,  wrecks  of  vessels,  and  decaying  bodies  of  men. 
There  lies,  half-covered  with  a  crust  of  lime  and  hideous 
green  slime,  an  ancient  gun  shining  in  sickly  green  ;  here, 
half-hidden,  a  quaint  box  filled  with  gold  that  was  picked 
up  amid  the  snows  of  the  Peruvian  Andes,  and  scattered 
over  all  a  motley  crowd  of  oddly-shaped  shells.  The 
empty  skull  of  an  old  sea-captain  has  sunk  down  close 
to  the  broken  armor  of  a  huge  turtle,  and  a  deadly  har- 
poon rusts  and  rots  by  the  side  of  the  enormous  tooth  of 
a  walrus.  Still  farther  down,  "  in  the  lower  deep  of  the 


8  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

lowest,"  lie  countless  bales  of  Indian  silks,  in  which 
large  schools  of  fish  dwell  peacefully  now ;  and  over  all, 
the  silent  currents  of  the  ocean  move  incessantly  to  and 
fro,  while  millions  of  jelly  fish  throng  every  wave  to  feed 
the  giant  whales,  and  immense  hosts  of  herring  dash 
frightened  through  the  waters  to  escape  the  voracious 
shark.  Not  only  mountains  and  valleys,  however,  break 
the  apparent  monotony  of  the  vast  deep,  but  all  that  the 
surface  of  the  earth  can  present  of  picturesque  beauty 
or  horrible  hideousness  is  repeated  below.  In  one  place 
the  waters  foam  and  the  waves  break  without  rest  or  re- 
pose against  oddly-shaped  cliffs,  which  do  not  rise  suffi- 
ciently high  to  be  seen  above ;  in  another,  they  wash 
slowly  and  sadly  against  a  wide  desert  of  white  sand. 
Where  lofty  mountains  rise  from  the  depth  to  a  height 
not  inferior  to  that  of  the  tallest  of  Alpine  summits,  and 
vast  forests  of  sea-tang  clothe  them  in  brilliant  green,  the 
sea  circles  mournfully  all  around  in  ceaseless  windings, 
while  farther  on,  where  the  valley  sinks  into  the  very 
bowels  of  the  earth,  and  eternal  darkness  covers  all  with 
its  mysterious  mantle,  the  waters  themselves  are  hushed 
and  apparently  motionless,  as  if  awe-struck  by  the  un- 
broken silence  and  the  unfathomable  night  below. 

The  earth,  it  has  been  said,  is  one  vast  graveyard,  and 
man  can  nowhere  put  down  his  foot  without  stepping  on 
the  remains  of  a  brother.  This  is  not  less  true  with  re- 
gard to  the  ocean.  It  is  an  ever-hungry  grave,  in  which 
millions  and  millions  of  once  living  beings  lie  buried, 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  9 

and  new  hosts  are  added  from  year  to  year.  It  is  the 
stage  on  which  murder  and  maddest  conflict  are  going 
on  without  ceasing.  Immeasurable  hatred  dwells  in  those 
cold,  unfeeling  waters — and  yet  for  a  good  purpose, 
since  it  is  only  through  this  unceasing  destruction  and 
change  that  life  can  be  maintained  in  the  crowded  world 
that  dwells  in  the  "  waters  below  the  earth."  The  sea 
has  its  lions,  its  tigers,  and,  wolves,  as  well  as  the  earth 
above,  its  crocodiles  and  gigantic  snakes,  which  daily 
sally  forth  to  seek  their  prey  and  murder  whole  races ; 
it  has  its  medusae  and  polypi,  which  spread  their  nets 
unceasingly  for  smaller  fry ;  while  whales,  and  their  kin- 
dred, swallow  millions  of  minute  beings  at  a  single  gulp, 
swordfish  and  sea-bears  hunt  the  giants  of  the  lower 
world,  and  wretched  parasites  wait  their  opportunity  to 
enter  the  fatty  coats  of  huge  monsters.  Every  thing  is 
hunting,  chasing,  and  murdering,  but  there  is  heard  no 
merry  "  Tally  Ho  !  "  no  war-cry  encourages  the  weary  com- 
batants; no  groan  of  pain,  no  shout  of  victory  ever 
breaks  the  dread  silence.  The  battles  are  fought  in  dumb 
passion,  and  no  sound  accompanies  the  fierce  conflict  but 
the  splash  of  foaming  waters  and  the  last  spasmodic 
effort  of  the  wounded  victim. 

Can  we  wonder,  then,  that  from  time  immemorial  the 
sea  has  been  peopled  by  the  learned  and  the  ignorant  alike 
with  marvels  of  every  kind  ?  It  is  the  good  fortune  of 
travellers,  and  especially  of  those  who  "  go  down  to  the 
great  deep,"  to  be  either  determined  that  all  they  have 


10  WONDEES    OF   THE   DEEP. 

Been  must  needs  be  unique,  unheard  of,  and  marvellous, 
or  disposed  to  follow  the  nil  admirari  doctrine,  and  to 
insist  that  they  have  never  met  with  any  thing  which  was 
not  perfectly  familiar  to  them  already  from  previous 
knowledge,  or  at  least  very  easily  accounted  for  by  their 
superior  mind.  Vanity  induces  the  former  to  magnify, 
self-love  teaches  the  other  to  diminish  all  they  have  seen, 
and  thus  littleness  of  mind  unfits  both  for  correct  obser- 
vation and  candid  reports.  The  ancients,  with  their  very 
limited  knowledge  of  the  sea  and  its  life,  very  naturally 
transferred  the  features  of  the  world  above  to  that  be- 
low the  waters,  and  their  lively  imagination  peopled  the 
ocean  with  all  the  animals  that  were  familiar  to  their 
eyes.  There  were  sea-horses  and  sea-lions,  poisonous  sea- 
hares  and  ravenous  sea-wolves,  sea-swine,  and  even  sea- 
locusts.  There  was  the  Chilon,  with  a  man's  head,  living 
frugally  on  nothing  but  his  own  viscous  humors;  and 
there  was  the  Balena,  not  so  very  like  to  a  whale,  and 
most  cruel  to  its  mate.  There  were  those  real  wonders 
of  the  sea,  the  Dolphins,  who  swam  about  with  their  ba- 
bies at  the  breast,  and  their  eyes  in  their  blade-bones, 
who  dug  graves  for  their  deceased  parents  and  friends, 
followed  them  in  funeral  procession,  and  buried  them  in 
submarine  graveyards  out  of  the  way  of  the  fishes. 
There  was  that  strange  fish,  the  Dies,  with  two  wings 
and  two  legs,  which  in  the  perfect  state  lived  only  for  a 
day.  There  was  the  Phoca,  another  oceanic  brute,  who 
was  perpetually  fighting  with  his  wife  until  he  killed  her. 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  11 

Always  remaining  in  the  same  spot,  where  he  had  mur- 
dered one  wife,  he  disposed  of  her  body  and  took  another, 
thus  playing  Henry  VIII.  to  a  series  of  wives,  until  he 
either  died  himself  or  found  a  mate  who  was  a  match  for 
him. 

But  these  were  only  the  teachings  of  that  despised 
science,  Natural  History.  Of  far  greater  interest  to  the 
nation,  and  of  deeper  concern  for  their  future  welfare, 
were  the  legends  of  the  god-like  shepherds,  a  Proteus,  a 
Nereus,  and  a  Glaucus,  who  tended  the  aquatic  flocks  of 
Neptune,  and  were  endowed  with  marvellous  powers. 
We  have  all  seen  those  classic  bas-reliefs,  in  which  the 
great  Poseidon  is  accompanied  by  monsters,  half-horses, 
half-fishes,  while  others  wear  partly  the  semblance  of 
men,  and  blow  trumpets  made  of  huge  shells  with  such 
terrible  force,  and  such  fearful  sound,  that  their  notes 
calmed  the  stormy  sea  !  These  hippocampi,  sometimes 
provided  with  cloven  feet  and  long  tails,  and  then  again 
covered  all  over  with  scales,  and  of  the  color  of  the  sea, 
were  favorite  forms  with  some  of  the  greatest  sculptors 
of  antiquity,  like  Myron  and  Scopas ;  and  yet  it  is  held 
doubtful  whether  they  were  altogether  the  offspring  of 
poetic  or  artistic  inspiration.  Naturalists,  as  well  as  ar- 
tists, have  been  led  to  think  that  extraordinary  creatures 
of  somewhat  similar  shape  may  have  really  peopled  the 
seas  in  ancient  times,  and  that  they,  like  the  giants  of 
old,  which  are  now  reduced  to  the  moderate  proportions 
of  our  day,  may  have  dwindled  down  into  the  diminutive 


12  WONDEKS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

hippocampi  which  abound  in  Southern  waters. .  These 
little  sea-horses,  as  they  are  familiarly  called,  have  the 
perfect  form  of  a  horse's  head,  with  prominent  round 
eyes,  and  a  steep,  straight  brow,  while  the  gills  float  in 
exact  imitation  of  a  mane  from  the  proudly-arched  neck. 
They  could  not  have  copied  the  walrus,  as  that  strange, 
monstrous  animal,  of  which  we  shall  presently  have  to 
say  more,  lives  only  in  polar  regions,  to  which  the  ancients 
did  not  have  access.  When  the  Tritons,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  represented  in  human  shape,  they  belonged, 
of  course,  simply  to  the  realm  of  fables.  And  yet  strong 
and  frequent  evidence  is  given  by  ancient  authors  of 
the  real  existence  of  beings  whom  they  resembled.  De- 
mostratus,  for  instance,  relates  that  such  a  Triton  was  still 
to  be  seen,  imperfectly  embalmed,  in  a  temple  of  Bac- 
chus at  Tanagria. 

It  seems  that  there  had  been  enmity  for  generations 
between  these  strange  children  of  the  sea,  and  the  good 
people  of  Tanagria.  One  of  the  Tritons  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  coming  forth  every  night  from  the  waters  to 
steal  the  cattle  on  shore,  and  all  efforts  to  catch  him  on 
the  part  of  the  dwellers  there  had  long  been  in  vain. 
At  last  they  placed  a  vessel,  filled  with  strong  wine,  on 
the  brow  of  a  steep  hill.  When  the  Triton  came,  accord- 
ing to  his  custom,  he  noticed  the  vas.e,  and  was  curious 
to  ascertain  its  contents.  He  tasted,  he  liked  it,  and 
drank  till  he  fell  fast  asleep  on  the  edge  of  the  precipice. 
During  his  disturbed  slumbers,  he  rolled  over  and  fell 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  13 

from  the  great  height  upon  the  rocks  below,  where  the 
Tanagrians  lay  in  wait,  and  wreaked  their  vengeance  on 
the  formidable  robber. 

Pausanias  saw  a  smaller  Triton  at  Rome,  and  from 
that  time  the  annals  of  all  countries  of  the  world  abound 
with  strange  legends  of  uncouth,  horrible  beings,  born 
and  bred  in  the  sea,  who  entered  into  ill-fated  relations 
with  men,  and  almost  invariably  contrived  their  ruin. 
The  White  Lady  of  Scotland,  the  Nix  or  Undine  of  beau- 
tiful German  lore,  the  Merminne  of  the  Netherlands,  and 
the  Nech — our  Old  Nick — of  the  dismal  North,  are  all 
children  of  the  marine  monsters  of  antiquity.  Among 
the  latter,  some  were  great  favorites  with  poet  and  priest, 
and  their  memory  survives  to  our  day.  Thus  the  Ocean 
itself  was  represented  as  the  son  of  the  Heavens  and  the 
Earth,  and  the  first  of  that  gigantic  race  of  Titans  who 
stormed  the  abode  of  the  gods,  but  the  only  one  who  did 
not  join  in  the  revolt  of  Saturn.  How  the  briny  deep 
was  made  to  differ  from  the  vast  lakes  *with  sweet  water, 
their  religion  did  not  tell ;  but  the  distinction  was  made 
at  an  early  date,  for  Hesiod  already  tells  us  that  "  nine^ 
tenths  of  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  passing  under  the 
earth  across  dark  night,  fall  in  silvery  showers  upon  the 
bed  of  the  waves,  around  the  earth,  and  on  the  back  of 
the  seas.  One-tenth  only,  to  the  great  injury  of  the 
gods,  escaping  from  a  lofty  rock,  forms  the  waters  of  the 
Styx,  and  by  it  the  Immortals  are  fond  of  swearing." 

Among  the  vast  offspring  of  the  ocean,  again,  the 


14:  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

Nereids  stand  foremost  by  their  number  and  by  their 
beauty.  They  were  all  fair  young  maidens,  nearly 
naked,  and  are  often  seen  in  the  frescoes  of  Pompeii,  and 
elsewhere,  in  most  graceful  positions,  reclining  on  the 
back  of  sea-horses,  or  giving  drink  to  thirsty  monsters  of 
the  deep.  It  was  only  when  the  taste  of  artists  became 
corrupt,  and  the  fancy  of  men  ran  riot  amid  Eastern  fic- 
tions, that  they  were  represented  as  ending  in  fishtails, 
and  as  having  hair  of  the  color  of  the  sea.  Another  sea- 
god,  marrying  the  Muse  of  Lyric  Poetry,  was  presented 
by  her  with  three  daughters,  the  Sirens,  whom  he  called 
Blanche,  Harmony,  and  Virgin  Eye ;  but,  unfortunately, 
he  lost  them  soon  after,  when  the  infuriated  Ceres  pun- 
ished them  for  having  allowed  the  carrying  off  of  her 
daughter  Proserpina,  and  changed  them  into  monsters, 
half  women,  half  birds.  The  unfortunate  maidens  fled 
in  despair,  and  hid  themselves  in  the  Islands  which  dot 
the  waters  between  Sicily  and  Italy.  But  even  there  the 
curse  pursued  them  still,  for  the  decree  had  gone  forth, 
that  they  were  to  die  if  ever  man  should  pass  them  with- 
out stopping.  Behold,  now,  the  poor  metamorphosed 
beauties  straining  their  sweet  voices,  and  blending  them 
with  the  softest  notes  of  their  instruments,  in  order  to 
attract  hapless  seamen,  and  to  draw  them  into  ruin. 
Surely,  the  ancients  felt  that  sea  and  land  alike  are  wel- 
come stages  for  the  fatal  skill  of  the  coquette!  Only 
once  the  sad  sirens  were  foiled  in  their  attempts  to  win 
and  to  ruin  the  children  of  men.  It  was  when  the  'elite 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  15 

of  Grecian  heroes  sallied  forth  on  their  great  expedition 
in  search  of  the  Golden  Fleece — in  reality,  a  company  of 
daring  adventurers,  who  went  to  take  possession  of  the 
gold  mines  in  the  Ural  Mountains — and  passed  close  to 
the  islands  on  which  the  wretched  sisters  were  living. 
They  came  down  to  the  steep  sides  of  the  precipices, 
they  displayed  their  unequalled  cha-rms,  and  sang  their 
sweetest  to  cast  their  spell  over  all  their  senses.  But 
Orpheus,  who  had  joined  the  merry  company  with  his 
lyre,  raised  his  own  sweet  voice,  and  soon  they  were 
forced  by  its  wondrous  power  to  listen  in  their  turn,  and 
to  let  the  Argo  pass  unharmed.  Perhaps  the  godlike 
nature  of  the  great  singer  was  pleaded  in  their  behalf, 
for  they  survived  the  future ;  and  it  was  only  when  cun- 
ning Ulysses  used  the  coarse  trick  of  filling  the  ears 
of  his  companions  with  wax,  and  thus  rendered  them 
insensible  to  their  enchantments,  that  they  paid  the  pen- 
alty, and  were  changed  into  rocks.  Even  then  one  of 
them  survived ;  for  the  compassionate  waters  refused  to 
bury  her;  they  sent  her  back  to  the  surface,  and  she 
became  fair  Naples,  the  city  of  magic  beauty,  where  so 
many  have  died  from  over-enjoyment,  obeying  literally 
the  ancient  saying  :  Vedi  Napoli  e  poi  muori! 

Pliny  seems  still  to  have  been  in  doubt  as  to  the  real 
existence  of  these  marine  monsters ;  at  least,  he  defends 
himself  against  the  suspicion  of  believing  in  them  with 
an  earnestness  which  goes  far  to  prove  the  lingering 
doubt.  "  I  do  not  believe  in  sirens,"  he  says  in  his  book 


16  WONDERS  or  THE  DEEP. 

on  birds,  "  although  Dino,  father  of  Clearchus,  a  famous 
author,  affirms  that  they  exist  in  India  and  tempt  men  by 
their  song,  in  order  to  tear  them  in  pieces  when  they  are 
asleep."  In  another  place,  again,  he  believes  them  to 
have  been  real  fish,  which  recalled,  in  a  vague  manner,  the 
features  of  human  beings,  and  states  that  several  such  had 
been  taken  on  the  coast  of  Gaul. 

The  assertion  is,  strangely  enough,  supported  by  later 
evidence ;  for  other  portions  of  the  earth,  and  later  ages, 
have  all  faithfully  repeated  the  legend,  and  pointed  to 
actual  beings  in  the  sea  as  proof  of  their  truth.  Have 
not  even  the  Arabs — who  either  ignore  the  sea  altogether, 
or  hate  it  as  cursed  by  their  great  prophet — their  weird 
beings,  half  men  and  half  ostriches,  who  live  on  desolate 
islands,  and  devour  the  bodies  of  shipwrecked  mariners 
brought  to  their  rocks  by  the  friendly  waves?  Near 
Rosetta  and  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  the  waters  are  peopled 
with  still  stranger  creatures,  poetically  called  the  Fathers 
of  the  Fair,  who  come  only  on  shore  for  peaceful  purposes, 
walk  quietly  about  to  enjoy  the  sweet  air  of  heaven  and 
the  perfumes  of  flowers,  and  then  return  reluctantly  to 
their  dark  homes  in  the  great  deep.  A  hundred  of  them 
were  once  captured,  but  they  uttered  such  very  sad  sighs 
and  unbearable  groanings,  that  the  hunters  released  them, 
and  saw  them  plunge  with  delight  into  the  cool  waters. 
The  Old  Man  of  the  Sea  is  familiar  to  all  our  readers 
through  the  Arabian  Nights ;  but  it  is  less  generally 
known  that  he  occasionally  appeared  near  Damascus,  and 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  17 

then  promised  a  good  harvest  to  the  Syrians ;  the  people 
were  so  grateful  to  him  for  his  benevolence,  that  they 
caught  him  once  and  married  him,  fishtail  and  all,  to  a 
fair  daughter  of  the  land.  The  monster  was  well  content, 
but  not  so  the  farmers,  for  his  happy  influence  had  left  him. 
as  soon  as  he  had  found  his  master  in  his  wife.  Other 
Arabic  authors  tell  us  even  the  religion  of  one  of  those 
marine  beings ;  he  is  called  by  them  the  Old  Jew,  and 
appears  on  the  night  preceding  the  Sabbath,  with  his 
white  hair  and  shaggy  coat,  on  the  surface  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, and  remains  there,  swimming  about,  plunging, 
and  jumping  high,  and  following  the  vessels  as  they  pass 
near  his  home,  till  the  Sabbath  is  over,  and  he  sinks  once 
more  down  under  the  waters. 

These  strange  beings,  reported  to  have  been  found  or 
heard  of  with  at  least  as  much  accuracy  and  as  fre- 
quently as  the  Sea  Serpent  of  our  days,  were  evidently 
the  ancestors  of  the  mermen  and  mermaids,  the  ill-starred, 
God-forsaken  dwellers  in  the  kingdom  of  waters,  the 

"  Merman  bold, 

Sitting  alone, 

Sitting  alone 

Under  the  sea, 
With  a  crown  of  gold, 

On  a  throne ; 
And  the  mermaid  fair, 

Singing  alone, 
Combing  her  hair, 

Under  the  sea, 
In  a  golden  curl 
With  a  comb  of  pearl, 
On  a  throne." 

For  a  time  Christian  authors  loved  to  revive  the  fables 


18  WONDEKS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

of  pagan  antiquity,  or  unconsciously  repeated  the  weird 
fancies  of  older  nations.  Soon,  however,  certain  features 
appear  in  their  accounts,  which  show  that  they  were 
either  reports  of  real  discoveries  of  marine  monsters, 
dressed  up,  perhaps,  in  somewhat  fanciful  colors,  or  at 
least  new  inventions  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age.  The  mermen  soon  cease  to  be  mere  monstrosities ; 
they  appear  in  a  form  resembling  human  beings,  often 
scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  the  people  near  whom 
they  live,  whence  follows  more  frequent  intercourse  and 
a  closer  intimacy  between  the  two  races.  One  merman, 
found  on  the  outermost  point  of  Mauritania  and  brought 
to  Spain,  is  reported  as  still  having  been  in  part  a  fish ; 
but  Theodore  of  Gaza  already  describes  the  mermaid,  of 
which  he  saw  several  cast  ashore  on  the  coast  of  Greece, 
as  fair  and  graceful ;  one  of  them  he  assisted  in  reaching 
the  water,  and  immediately  she  plunged  into  the  waves 
and  was  seen  no  more.  Other  authors,  of  such  high  re- 
pute that  even  the  great  Scaliger  may  be  mentioned 
among  them,  tell  of  such  wondrous  beings,  which  they 
saw  themselves  or  heard  of  through  trustworthy  friends. 
These  accounts  were,  of  course,  valued  only  in  propor- 
tion to  the  wonder  they  excited,  and  added  nothing  to 
our  actual  knowledge  of  the  dwellers  in  the  waters. 
They  led,  on  the  contrary,  to  new  errors,  and  much 
amusement  might  be  derived  from  the  precepts  given  to 
unlucky  sailors  who  should  fall  in  with  such  sirens. 
They  were  advised  to  cast  bottles  into  the  sea,  with 


FABLES  A^D  FACTS.  19 

which  the  monsters  would  play  long  enough  to  give 
them  time  to  escape ;  to  stop  their  ears  carefully  with 
wax  and  oakum,  and  to  invoke  aid  from  on  high  against 
their  enchantments.  The  great  Cabot,  so  intimately 
connected  with  the  history  of  our  continent,  furnished 
the  officers  of  the  first  vessel  that  ever  attempted  the 
voyage  to  the  fantastic  Cathay  of  those  days,  with  a  set 
of  curious  instructions.  He  recommended  that  prayers 
should  be  held  twice  every  day,  and  all  inventions  of  the 
Evil  One,  like  dice,  cards,  and  backgammon,  should  be 
strictly  prohibited.  By  the  side  of  such  excellent  sugges- 
tions are  some  of  more  doubtful  morality.  Thus  he  enjoins 
upon  the  officers  to  attract  the  natives  of  foreign  lands, 
to  bring  them  on  board  ship,  and  there  to  make  them 
drunk  with  beer  and  wine  till  they  had  revealed  all  the 
secrets  of  their  hearts.  The  rules  contain  at  the  end  a 
recommendation  "to  take  good  care  against  certain 
creatures  which,  with  the  heads  of  men  and  the  tails  of 
fishes,  swim  about  in  the  fiords  and  bays  armed  with 
bow  and  arrows,  and  feed  upon  human  flesh." 

The  dark  North,  with  its  misty,  murky  atmosphere, 
which  is  reflected  in  the  sombre  legends  of  dismal  super- 
stitions, has  its  mermen  above  all  others.  They  are 
mostly  seen  when  fearful  tempests  threaten  destruction,  - 
or  sudden  storms  bring  shipwreck  to  vessel  and  sailors 
alike.  It  is  but  here  and  there  that  they  are  painted  in 
softer  colors.  In  one  of  the  legends,  a  famous  giant  of 
the  seas,  called  Rosmer,  carries  off  a  Danish  maiden  of 


20  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

great  beauty ;  she  has  to  live  with  him  in  a  great  moun- 
tain, to  which  he  comes  every  now  and  then  from  his 
home  in  the  waters.  Her  brother,  who  had  sallied  forth 
to  find  her  and  to  rescue  her,  lands  at  the  desert  rock, 
and  is  at  first  in  great  danger  of  being  slain  and  devour- 
ed by  the  terrible  monster.  He  succeeds,  however,  in 
pacifying  the  merman,  and  serves  him  faithfully  for  many 
years.  At  last  he  obtains  leave  to  return  home,  and  re- 
ceives, as  reward  for  his  services,  a  large  box  filled  with 
gold  and  precious  stones.  The  giant  even  condescends 
to  carry  the  box  himself  on  board  the  ship,  unconscious 
that  the  cunning  maiden  has  first  taken  out  all  the  trea- 
sures, and  then  concealed  herself  in  the  box,  from  which 
she  comes  forth  as  soon  as  the  ship  has  reached  the  high 
seas. 

It  may  readily  be  imagined  that  mariners  who  set  out 
on  long  voyages  to  distant,  unknown  lands,  with  their 
minds  filled  with  such  images  and  marvellous  stories, 
were  ready  to  see  sirens  and  other  wonders  of  the  deep 
to  their  hearts'  content.  Christopher  Columbus  even, 
when  sailing  along  the  coast  of  St.  Domingo,  met  with 
three  sirens,  who  were  dancing  on  the  water.  They  had, 
however,  no  sweet  songs  with  which  to  allure  him,  and 
their  silence,  combined  with  their  lack  of  beauty,  made 
him  think  that  they  probably  "  regretted  their  absence 
from  Greece."  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  his  sirens 
were  Manatees,  huge  monsters  so  called  because  they 
carry  their  young  with  their  flappers,  or  finlike  hands, 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  21 

and  give  them  suck  on  the  breast — relations  of  the  great 
Dugong  of  India,  the  only  animal  yet  known  that  grazes 
at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean.  It  has  the  strange  power  of 
suspending  itself  steadily  in  the  water,  and  its  jaws  are 
bent  in  such  a  curious  manner  that  the  mouth  is  nearly 
vertical,  by  which  means  it  is  enabled  to  feed  upon  the 
sea-weeds  down  in  the  deep,  very  much  as  a  cow  does 
upon  the  herbage  in  the  bright  sunlight  above.  The 
Manatees  serve  to  frighten  the  children  of  African  slaves 
even  now,  when  they  suddenly  rise  like  "  spirits  from 
the  vasty  deep,"  their  large,  gentle  eyes  looking  anxious- 
ly around,  and  their  young  clasped  tenderly  to  their 
bosom — a  favorite  position  of  theirs,  which  has  earned 
them,  with  Spanish  colonists,  the  name  of  Fish- Women. 
The  poor  Brazilian  natives,  who  still  cherish  the  tradi- 
tions of  their  forefathers,  fondly  believe  in  the  existence 
of  an  immense  lake  in  the  interior  which  contains  an 
enormous  treasure,  guarded  and  watched  over  by  a  siren 
whom  they  call  the  Mai  das  Aguas.  They  also  believe 
still  in  the  accounts  given  by  early  discoverers  of  strange 
beings  met  in  their  waters.  Did  not  even  brave  John 
Smith,  the  valiant  hero  and  daring  navigator,  when  he 
came  near  our  own  continent,  see  a  woman  swimming 
gracefully  near  the  vessel  ?  Her  eyes  were  large,  beauti- 
ful, and  full  of  expression,  although  rather  round,  the 
nose  and  ears  well  made,  and  the  hair  long  and  soft,  but 
of  sea-green  color.  His  heart  was  near  giving  way  to  all 
these  charms,  when  the  strange  being  suddenly  turned 


22  WONDEES   OF  THE   DEEP. 

over,  and  showed  to  her  disconcerted  admirer  a  forked 
fish-tail ! 

Among  South  American  Indians,  it  seems,  tails  of  mer- 
men are  a  favorite  subject,  though  here  and  there  these 
marine  monsters  are  dreaded  with  instinctive  abhor- 
rence. Moravian  missionaries  have  sent  home  strange 
reports  of  these  superstitions,  and  yet  found  themselves 
unable,  in  their  desire  to  honor  the  truth  and  to  avoid 
misstatements,  to  deny  positively  all  ground  for  these 
traditions.  For  not  only  the  natives,  but  the  ministers 
and  agents  of  the  pious  Brethren  themselves,  firmly 
believed  that  they  had  met  with  men  and  women  who 
lived  in  the  water.  They  furnished  statements,  ap- 
parently made  in  full  earnest  and  godly  sincerity,  that 
they  had  actually  seen  brownish  beings  with  human  faces 
and  long  hair  rise  suddenly  from  the  water,  and  that  the 
urgent  intercession  of  the  Indians  alone  had  kept  them 
from  killing  the  supernatural  beings.  The  natives  looked 
upon  them  with  superstitious  awe,  and  insisted  upon  it 
that  to  kill  one  of  them  would  be  simply  to  bring  dire 
calamities  upon  their  settlements  and  the  whole  race. 
It  must  be  presumed  that  we  meet  here  with  stray  mem- 
bers of  those  aquatic  tribes  of  Indians  who  live  actually 
more  in  the  water  than  on  land.  Martius,  and  other 
travellers,  down  to  our  day,  tell  us  that  the  Indians  who 
dwell  near  the  upper  branches  of  the  Paraguay,  the 
Maranhao,  and  other  large  rivers,  remain  for  hours  and 
hours  in  the  water,  and  are  such  expert  swimmers  that 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  23 

they  defy  the  most  powerful  current,  and  dive  like  water- 
fowl. A  small  bundle  of  leaf-stalks  taken  from  the  Bu- 
riti  palm-tree  is  all  they  use  ordinarily  for  their  support ; 
at  other  times  they  seize  an  oar,  hold  it  between  their 
feet,  and  use  it  as  a  rudder  to  steer  with,  and  thus  swim, 
holding  their  weapons  in  their  muscular  arms ;  or  they 
leap  with  incredible  agility  upon  a  tree  floating  along  on 
the  swollen  stream,  sit  down  on  it  astride,  and  thus  cross 
in  a  few  minutes  the  most  rapid  current.  No  cayman  or 
aquatic  animal  is  safe  from  them,  and  they  fight  and 
defeat  the  huge  capy  vara,  and  the  largest  serpent,  with 
great  courage.  They  fear  literally  nothing  except  the 
Minho9as,  a  fabulous  creature  which  is  said  to  live  in  the 
rivers  and  still  waters  of  Equatorial  Brazil,  and  which 
naturalists  believe  to  be  either  a  giant  eel  endowed  with 
powerful  teeth,  or  perhaps  a  large  variety  of  the  famous 
gymnotus  with  its  galvanic  battery.  These  Canoeiros, 
as  the  Water-Indians  are  called,  are  true  Ishmaelites; 
they  are  at  war  with  all  the  other  tribes',  and  are  there- 
fore hunted  down  like  wild  beasts  ;  they  have  no  home 
and  no  country  of  their  own,  and  hence  they  may  very 
well  have  given  rise  to  the  fabulous  reports  of  mermen 
still  rife  among  the  credulous  Indians  of  that  continent. 

In  Germany,  where  folk  lore  abounds  and  superstition 
still  has  its  strong  hold  on  the  minds  of  the  masses, 
gruesome  stories  are  told  in  the  long  winter  nights  of 
the  Nixen,  who  dwell  in  the  waters  near  the  coast,  in 
crystal-clear  rivers,  under  the  dark  shadow  of  ancient 


24:  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

trees,  and  in  bright,  bubbling  wells,  in  half-hidden  glens. 
They  are  the  sirens  of  the  sunny  South,  and  even  here 
the  ancient  curse  seems  to  follow  the  ill-fated  race.  For 
here,  also,  they  are  condemned  to  expiate  some  great  and 
grievous  sin  committed  by  their  forefathers,  and  to  suffer 
long  and  miserably.  As  the  whole  creation  groaneth, 
however,  these  sorrowful  beings  also  yearn  to  be  re- 
leased, and  of  this  longing  many  a  touching  tale  is  told 
in  German  legends.  Thus  one  of  them  tells  us,  that 
the  children  of  a  Protestant  minister  were  once  playing 
on  the  banks  of  a  river,  when  they  saw  a  Nix  rise  from 
the  waters,  who,  thinking  himself  unobserved,  began  to 
sing  and  to  play  on  a  strange,  but  ineffably  sweet  instru- 
ment. With  the  cruelty  common  to  children,  they  at 
once  rushed  upon  him  and  reproached  him  for  his  merri- 
ment, adding  that  as  he  was  nothing  but  a  condemned  sin- 
ner, he  had  much  better  weep  over  his  eternal  wretched- 
ness. The  poor  water-sprite,  taken  by  surprise  and  dis- 
tressed beyond  measure,  broke  into  tears ;  and  the  youth- 
ful tyrants,  delighted  with  their  success,  went  home  to 
tell  their  father  what  had  happened.  But  they  were 
badly  received  here,  and  told  that  they  had  acted  very 
wrongly  and  must  return  at  once  and  comfort  the  poor 
being  whom  they  had  so  grievously  afflicted.  They  ran 
back,  and  as  soon  as  they  saw  the  Nix  they  cried  out  to 
him  not  to  weep  any  longer,  since  their  father  had  said 
that  the  Lord  had  died  even  for  him,  and  he  also  might 
hope  to  be  forgiven  hereafter.  Thereupon  the  poor  Nix 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  25 

dried  his  tears,  recovered  his  cheerfulness,  and  played 
with  them  all  day  long. 

Holland,  with  its  wondrous  bulwarks  and  its  lifelong 
conflict  with  the  sea,  abounds  naturally  in  stories  of  every 
kind,  in  which  mermen  and  mermaids  play  a  prominent 
part.  Sometimes  they  meet  the  intrepid  sailor  out  on 
the  high  sea  and  sing  of  his  joyous  return,  or  warn  him 
of  his  approaching  end  ;  at  other  times  they  come  on 
shore,  make  themselves  useful  in  a  thousand  ways,  and 
vanish  only  when  they  are  ill-treated  or  laughed  at. 
There  is  hardly  a  town  on  the  seacoast  which  has  not  its 
own  legend  of  this  kind  ;  but  generally  the  men  are  less 
interesting  than  the  maidens,  since  the  latter  are  prophets 
and  play  a  prominent  part  in  the  sad  history  of  that  coun- 
try. Such  was  the  mermaid  that  once  frequented  the 
waters  near  Zevenbergen,  a  fortified  town  with  massive 
walls  and  lofty  towers,  in  which  dwelt  thousands  of  opu- 
lent citizens  with  their  wives  and  children.  But  the  peo- 
ple were  as  wicked  as  they  were  rich,'  and  professed  to 
believe  neither  in  heaven  nor  hell.  One  fine  day  the 
siren  appeared  in  company  with  a  sister  mermaid,  and 
with  solemn,  tearful  voice  both  began  to  sing : 

"  Zevenbergen  must  perish, 
And  the  tower  of  Lobbekens  alone  shall  remain." 

In  spite  of  this  warning  the  inhabitants  continued  their 
riotous  living  and  sinful  profanity.  In  a  dark  November 
night  of  the  same  year  a  fearful  tempest  arose ;  the  wind 
blew  from  the  northwest,  and  with  such  terrific  force  that 


26  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

the  dykes  gave  way  under  the  overwhelming  pressure  of 
the  waters,  and  the  Saint  Elisabeth,  as  the  inundation 
was  called,  overwhelmed  not  less  than  seventy-two  towns 
and  villages.  Among  these  was  the  unfortunate  town  of 
Zevenbergen,  and  so  thorough  was  its  destruction  in  the 
deep  waters,  that  when  the  morning  broke,  and  people 
came  from  a  distance  in  boats,  they  saw  far  beneath  them 
the  ruins  of  houses,  and  nothing  standing  but  the  one 
lofty  tower  of  Lobbekens.  Thus  the  prophecy  of  the 
mermaid  had  become  true.  Fortunately,  man  has  tri- 
umphed over  the  evil  prophet  and  the  element  alike.  By 
an  immense  outlay  of  capital  and  the  incessant  labor  of 
long  years,  the  whole  vast  region  has  been  once  more 
laid  dry,  and  from  the  midst  of  polders,  or  dyked  mead- 
ows of  surpassing  fertility,  there  rises  now  a  new  town 
of  Zevenbergen,  richer  and  wiser  than  the  doomed  village 
of  former  days. 

Holland  is  also  the  land  which  has  originated  the  very 
peculiar  faith  in  legends  of  sea-knights  and  sea-bishops, 
some  of  whom  were  captured  from  time  to  time  and  ex- 
hibited in  the  large  cities.  They  were  found  afterwards 
in  all  the  northern  seas,  and  the  works  of  those  ages,  down 
to  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  contain  gener- 
ally one  or  two  so-called  faithful  likenesses  of  these  very 
curious  monsters  of  the  deep.  In  1 305  already  a  sea-knight 
was  caught  out  in  the  open  sea  to  the  north  of  Dockum, 
and  carried  from  town  to  town ;  his  fair  appearance,  and 
especially  the  complete  suit  of  armor  which  he  wore,  ex- 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  27 

cited  universal  admiration ;  but  he  died,  unfortunately, 
in  the  third  week,  at  Dockum. 

A  work  of  great  scientific  merit,  and  published  as  late 
as  1534,  contains  an  engraving  representing  a  sea-monk, 
whom  the  author,  Rondelet,  heard  of  in  Norway,  where 
it  had  been  taken  after  a  fearful  tempest.  It  has  the 
face  of  a  man,  but  rough  and  repulsive,  a  bald,  smooth 
head,  the  cowl  of  a  monk  hanging  over  the  shoulders,  two 
long  fins  instead  of  arms,  and  a  body  ending  in  a  huge 
double-fluked  tail.  Other  monks  of  the  same  kind  ap- 
pear in  similar  works,  sometimes  wearing  a  bishop's 
habit  and  mitre,  and  one  of  them  is  reported  to  have  been 
sent  in  1433  from  the  Baltic,  where  he  was  captured,  to 
the  king  of  Poland.  The  poor  creature,  however,  re- 
fused steadfastly  to  utter  a  sound  or  to  take  any  food ; 
the  king,  moved  with  compassion,  ordered  him  to  be 
carried  back  to  the  sea,  and  the  monster  no  sooner  saw 
his  own  element  than  he  gave  signs  of  exuberant  joy, 
leaped  into  the  water  and  was  never  seen  again.  It  may 
be  added,  that  the  Protestants  made  great  capital  out  of 
these  marine  dignitaries  of  the  church,  and  hence  gave 
rise  to  the  suspicion  that  the  whole  race  of  sea-monks  and 
sea-bishops  was  artistically  produced  as  a  quaint  revenge 
which  the  Reformation  took  on  the  persecuting  Church 
of  Rome. 

The  explanation  is  perhaps  only  an  afterthought,  but, 
as  the  proverb  has  it,  that  there  is  no  smoke  without  fire, 
so  here  also,  these  countless  and  persistent  traditions 


28  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

contain  their  grain  of  truth,  which  has  been  only  half 
hid  in  a  bushel  of  falsehoods.  The  fact  is,  that  these 
fables  could  never  have  been  invented,  much  less  authen- 
ticated, even  after  the  imperfect  manner  of  early  ages,  if 
there  were  not  certain  animals  living  in  the  great  deep 
which  possess  sufficient  likeness  to  the  human  form  to  de- 
ceive careless  and  superstitious  observers.  If  there  are 
no  real  tritons  and  sirens  to  be  met  with  in  our  waters, 
such  as  we  see  in  ancient  sculptures,  or  the  coats  of  arms 
of  noble  families,  there  are  at  least  seals  and  walrus,  sea- 
lions  and  sea-cows,  and  similar  monsters,  whose  faces 
and  gestures,  as  seen  on  the  surface  of  the  waters,  recall 
forcibly  the  features  and  movements  of  men.  Unscrupu- 
lous cheats  have  occasionally  taken  great  pains  to 
manufacture  actual  sirens,  and  their  remains  are  to  this 
day  carefully  preserved  in  many  a  museum  of  European 
cities;  like  the  well-known  sirens  of  Leyden  and  the 
Hague.  Nor  is  our  own  time  exempt  from  these  attempts 
to  profit  by  the  credulity  of  men.  At  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  a  crafty  fisherman  on  the  coast  of  India 
skilfully  joined  the  body  of  an  ape  to  the  lower  part  of 
a  large  fish,  and  dressed  up  the  whole  affair  so  cleverly 
that  even  experienced  men  were  taken  in,  and  bestowed 
much  time  and  long  research  upon  the  extraordinary 
being.  As  the  inventor  attributed,  moreover,  healing 
powers  to  the  touch  of  the  siren,  he  was  soon  overrun, 
and  could,  after  a  short  time,  retire  upon  a  competency. 
An  European  charlatan  purchased  the  marine  monster  at 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  29 

a  high  price,  and  exhibited  it  in  England  and  on  the 
Continent.  He  met  with  great  success  for  a  time  ;  then 
he  and  his  siren  were  forgotten,  only,  however,  to  revive 
more  brilliantly  than  ever  in  the  hands  of  the  master  of 
his  art,  our  own  great  Barnum.  Another  siren  was,  a 
couple  of  years  ago,  the  marvel  of  the  rural  population 
all  over  England ;  nor  was  it,  in  this  case,  a  mere  mummy 
that  was  shown,  but  a  living  mermaid  not  unattractive 
in  appearance,  who  discreetly  plunged  her  fish-tail  into 
the  waters  of  a  huge  basin,  and  held  the  classic  mirror 
and  comb  in  her  hands.  At  last  public  sympathy  was 
aroused  by  some  benevolent  Quakers ;  an  investigation 
was  ordered  by  the  authorities,  and  it  was  found  that  the 
poor  woman  had  been  forced  for  years  to  spend  her  days 
in  the  water,  with  an  imitation  fish-skin  sewed  on  to  her 
body! 

There  is,  however,  quite  enough  that  is  truly  marvel- 
lous in  some  of  the  greater  denizens  of  the  deep,  to  en- 
gage our  interest,  and  to  find  in  them  the  originals  of  the 
fabled  beings  of  whom  we  have  spoken,  without  resort- 
ing to  such  gross  and  cruel  deception.  Pliny  already 
speaks  of  a  sea-elephant,  so  called  at  first,  no  doubt, 
mainly  on  account  of  his  two  enormous  teeth,  and  of  the 
peculiar  shape  of  his  head,  which  resembles  somewhat 
the  trunk  of  an  elephant.  A  variety  of  these  monsters 
seems  to  have  been  known  to  the  Norwegian  Olaus 
Magnus,  who  gives  a  most  extraordinary  description  of 
the  manner  in  which  they  were  captured.  "  Sometimes," 


30  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

he  says,  "  they  fell  asleep  on  the  rocky  coast,  and  then 
the  fishermen  went  quickly  to  work,  raising  the  fat 
along  their  tails,  and  attaching  to  it  strong  ropes,  which 
they  fastened  to  rocks  and  trees  on  the  shore.  Then 
they  waked  up  the  huge  animal  by  throwing  stones  at  it 
with  a  sling,  and  compelled  it  to  return  into  the  water, 
leaving  its  skin  behind !  "  At  present,  the  sea-elephant 
is  found  only  in  the  Antarctic  Ocean.  On  the  confines  of 
that  world  of  ice,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  there  ap- 
pears nothing  in  sight  but  vast  masses  of  ice,  thrown  in 
apparent  disorder  upon  the  immense  plain,  with  here 
and  there  a  colossal  block  rising  on  high  and  mimicking 
the  shape  of  a  great  palace,  with  its  walls  and  ramparts, 
towers  and  turrets,  battlements  and  colonnades.  Before 
these,  smaller  blocks  dance  in  weird,  wearisome  motion 
up  and  down  on  the  dusky  waters,  and  gray  mists  hang 
from  their  sides,  and  break  with  their  tatters  and  frag- 
ments the  dreary  prospect.  At  rare  times  the  sun  breaks 
through  the  dense  fog,  and  then  the  whole  world  of  ice 
begins  to  glitter  and  glare  in  the  bright  rays,  and  en- 
chanted scenes  dazzle  the  eye.  Here  is  a  snow  land- 
scape, with  hamlets  and  trees ;  the  larger  blocks  of  ice 
resembling  snow-covered  houses,  and  the  torn  and  tarn- 
ished masses  appearing  not  unlike  trees  bending  under 
the  weight  of  hoarfrost,  or  bushes  feathered  with  light 
crystals.  The  whole  enchanted  city,  with  its  narrow 
canals,  is  buried  in  absolute  stillness ;  gulls  fly  silently 
across  the  clear  air,  penguins  rise  and  dive  again  in  utter 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  31 

quiet,  and  even  the  sea-elephants  lie  voiceless,  like  colos 
sal  watchdogs,  on  the  steps  of  the  palaces.  Only  the 
low,  mournful  blowing  of  a  whale,  who  sends  up  his  airy 
fountain  of  foam,  breaks  occasionally  upon  the  fearful  si- 
lence of  this  magnificent  city  of  ice. 

In  these  inhospitable  regions  dwells  the  elephant  oi 
the  seas,  a  monster  not  unfrequently  thirty  feet  long,  and 
measuring  over  sixteen  feet  in  circumference  !  His  pow- 
erful teeth  are  formidable  enough  in  appearance,  and 
above  them  he  raises,  when  he  is  roused  to  anger,  his 
inflated  trunk,  which  ordinarily  hangs  loosely  over  the 
upper  lip.  His  whole  body  is  covered  with  stiff,  shining 
hair,  and  underneath  his  fur  coat  he  has  a  layer  of  fat  at 
least  a  foot  thick,  which  protects  him  effectually  against 
the  terrible  cold  of  the  polar  regions.  The  two  awkward 
feet,  mere  stumps  encased  in  fin-like  coverings,  are  of 
little  avail  to  the  giant  when  he  moves  on  firm  land ; 
after  a  few  yards  he  begins  to  groan  and  to  rest,  while 
the  whole  huge  body  shakes  as  if  it  were  one  vast  mass 
of  jelly-like  fat.  Here  he  falls  an  easy  victim  to  the  sail- 
ors, who  come  in  search  of  his  ivory  and  his  oil ;  they 
walk  fearlessly  through  the  thick  crowds,  and  knock 
them  over  by  a  single  blow  on  the  nose.  The  giant 
opens  his  enormous  mouth  and  shows  his  formidable 
teeth,  but,  as  he  cannot  move,  he  is  virtually  helpless. 
Very  different  are,  however,  his  motions  in  his  own  ele- 
ment ;  as  soon  as  he  is  under  water,  he  swims  with 
amazing  rapidity,  turns  and  twists  like  an  eel,  and  is  thus 


32  WONDEKS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

enabled  to  catch  not  only  swift  fish  and  sepias,  but  even 
the  web-footed  penguins.  He  must  find  it  difficult,  at 
times,  to  provide  his  enormous  body  with  sufficient  food, 
for  he  swallows  masses  of  tangled  sea-tang,  and  large 
stones  have  been  found  in  his  stomach,  to  the  number  of 
twelve.  When  he  wishes  to  sleep,  he  floats  on  the  sur- 
face, and  is  rocked  and  cradled  by  the  waves  of  the 
ocean. 

What  has,  in  all  probability,  led  to  their  being  taken 
for  human  beings  by  credulous  and  superstitious  mariners 
of  early  ages,  is  the  beauty  of  their  eye,  and  the  deep 
feeling  they  manifest  at  critical  times.  They  not  only 
never  attack  men,  but,  unlike  the  sympathetic  seals,  they 
also  abandon  their  wounded  companions,  and  purposely 
turn  aside  so  as  not  to  witness  their  sufferings  and  their 
agony.  When  they  are  mortally  wounded,  they  drag 
themselves  painfully  inland,  and  hide  behind  a  large  rock 
to  die  in  peace  and  unseen  by  others.  If  they  are  pre- 
vented from  thus  retiring,  they  shed  tears,  as  they  also 
weep  bitterly  when  they  are  ill-treated  by  cruel  sailors. 

Very  different  in  temper  is  the  walrus,  another  of  the 
great  monsters  of  the  deep,  who,  although  by  nature  as 
gentle  and  peaceful  as  the  sea-elephant,  has  become  bit- 
ter and  fierce  by  his  constant  warfare  with  man.  It  is 
the  true  type  of  the  polar  North  :  as  all  nature  here  is 
buried  in  sad,  deathlike  silence  for  several  months,  so 
the  walrus  also  sleeps  for  the  same  time,  deprived  of  all 
power  and  energy,  while  the  fierce  tempests  and  terrible 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  33 

ice-drifts  of  those  regions  are  represented  by  their  wild 
passions.  They  fight  with  indomitable  courage  for  the 
fairest  among  the  females,  and  many  a  bold  knight 
among  them  leaves  his  life  in  the  lists  of  the  grim  tour- 
nament. They  defend  their  family  and  their  race  with 
intense  rage,  and  know  the  strength  that  lies  in  union. 
Far  up  in  the  coldest  ice  regions  of  the  Arctic  seas  they 
assemble  in  crowds  of  two  thousand,  and  when  -their 
guards  have  been  posted,  they  begin  their  sports  in  the 
half-frozen  waters.  They  splash  and  splatter  as  they 
leap  frantically  or  plunge  their  huge  bodies  into  the 
foaming  waves,  and  the  noise  they  thus  make,  together 
with  the  trumpeting  of  their  wide-open  nostrils,  and  the 
mournful  howl  of  their  repulsive  voice,  fill  the  air  with  a 
stunning,  confusing  roar.  Their  appearance  is  in  keep- 
ing with  the  whole  scene  :  black  heads,  with  red,  staring 
eyes  of  great  size,  a  broad-lipped,  swollen  mouth,  and 
enormous  beard,  each  hair  of  the  thickness  of  a  straw, 
adorned  with  snow-white  teeth  more  than  two  feet  long, 
and  colossal,  shapeless  bodies,  half  horse  and  half  whale, 
but  weighing  at  times  not  less  than  three  thousand 
pounds — surely  nothing  more  was  needed  to  strike  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  ignorant  seamen,  and  to  lead  to  fan- 
cies wild  and  weird  of  man-resembling  monsters  of  the 
deep. 

Far  greater,  however,  is  the  resemblance  which  certain 
varieties  of  seals  bear  to  the  human  form.     Their  head, 

perfectly  round  and  bald,  their  large  bright  eyes  full  of 
2* 


34:  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

intelligence  and  tender  feelings,  their  full  beard  on  both 
sides  of  the  face,  and  their  broad  shoulders,  give  to  the 
upper  part  of  their  body  a  startling  likeness,  such  as,  in 
the  foggy  atmosphere  of  the  northern  seas,  and  with  a 
predisposition  to  see  what  people  expect  to  see,  may  very 
well  have  led  to  a  sincere  conviction  that  they  were  hu- 
man beings.  To  this  must  be  added  their  merry,  playful 
disposition,  and  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  they  hold 
themselves  almost  perfectly  upright  when  gambolling  in 
the  water.  Naturally  harmless,  and  even  timid,  they 
have  a  habit  of  following  the  small  boats  that  go  on  shore, 
and  of  observing  attentively  all  that  is  done ;  and  if  the 
crew  remains  longer  at  one  and  the  same  place,  they  be- 
come familiar,  and  fond  of  their  company.  They  learn 
to  know  the  people  living  on  the  shore  near  their  play- 
ground, so  that,  in  Corsica,  flocks  of  them  follow  the  fish- 
ing-boats, and  modestly  content  themselves  with  the  fish 
rejected  after  the  nets  have  been  hauled  in.  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  this  intimacy  has  given  rise  to  an 
account,  given  by  Pliny,  of  a  scene  daily  enacted  near 
the  town  of  Mines,  in  southern  France  ;  and  as  here  truth 
and  fiction  meet  in  striking  relation  to  each  other,  we 
insert  the  words  of  the  great  naturalist : 

"  At  a  certain  period  of  the  year  a  prodigious  number 
of  mullets  make  their  way  to  the  sea  through  the  narrow 
mouth  of  a  swamp  called  Latera.  These  fish  choose  the 
moment  of  the  incoming  tide,  which  prevents  the  stretch- 
ing out  of  nets  and  the  taking  them  in  vast  quantities. 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  35 

By  a  similar  instinct  they  turn  at  once  toward  the  open 
sea,  and  hasten  to  escape  from  the  only  place  in  which 
they  are  liable  to  be  caught.  The  inhabitants,  who  know 
the  period  of  this  migration,  and  enjoy  the  pleasure  of 
the  sport,  assemble  on  the  shore.  Spectators  and  fisher- 
men all  cry  aloud  :  i  Simo !  Simo  ! '  Immediately  the 
dolphins  know  that  they  are  needed.  The  north  wind 
carries  the  sound  of  the  voice  to  them.  But  whatever 
time  it  may  be,  these  faithful  allies  never  fail  to  appear 
at  once.  One  might  imagine  it  was  an  army,  which 
instantly  takes  up  its  position  in  the  opening  where  the 
action  is  to  take  place.  They  close  the  outlet  to  the 
mullets,  who  take  fright,  and  throw  themselves  into  shal- 
low water.  Then  the  fishermen  surround  them  with 
their  nets.  But  the  mullets,  with  wonderful  agility,  leap 
over  them.  Now  the  dolphins  fall  upon  them,  and,  con- 
tent for  the  moment  with  having  killed  them,  wait  to 
devour-  them  when  the  victory  is  assured.  The  action 
goes  on,  and,  pressing  the  enemy  closer  and  closer,  the 
dolphins  allow  themselves  to  be  imprisoned  with  the  mul- 
lets, and,  in  order  not  to  frighten  them  into  desperate 
acts,  they  glide  stealthily  between  the  boats,  the  nets, 
and  the  swimming  fishermen,  so  as  to  leave  no  passage 
open.  When  all  are  taken,  they  devour  those  they  have 
killed.  But  knowing  that  they  have  labored  hard  enough 
to  deserve  more  than  a  single  day's  wages,  they  reappear 
on  the  morrow,  and  not  only  receive  as  many  fish  as  they 
desire,  but  are  fed  with  bread  soaked  in  wine ! " 


36  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

The  talents  of  the  seal  are  manifold :  from  the  agility 
which  he  displays  in  catching  fish  for  his  master,  to  the 
capacity  he  has  shown  in  learning  actually  to  speak. 
More  than  one  seal  has  been  taught  to  utter  distinctly 
the  word  Papa,  and  several  animals  of  the  kind  are  re- 
ported to  have  gone  even  beyond,  and  to  have  pro- 
nounced several  words  at  a  time.  Nor  must  their  love 
of  music  be  forgotten,  which  is  so  great  that  they  will 
rise  from  the  water  and  remain  nearly  standing  upright 
as  long  as  the  instrument  is  played,  to  which  they  listen 
with  unmistakable  pleasure.  It  is  not  so  very  long  since 
one  of  this  remarkable  race  came  every  day  for  six  weeks 
from  the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  to  take  her  rest 
under  the  divan  of  a  custom-house  officer  in  Smyrna. 
The  latter  had  tamed  her,  and  placed  a  few  rough  planks 
at  the  distance  of  about  three  feet  from  the  water's  edge 
under  his  couch,  and  on  these  boards  the  seal  loved  to 
rest  for  several  hours,  giving  vent  to  her  delight,  oddly 
enough,  in  a  profusion  of  sighs  like  those  of  a  suffering 
man.  She  ate  readily  the  rice  and  the  bread  which  were 
offered  her,  though  she  seemed  to  have  some  trouble  in 
softening  the  former  sufficiently  to  swallow  it  with  ease. 
After  an  absence  of  several  days,  the  affectionate  crea- 
ture reappeared  with  a  young  one  under  the  arm,  but  a 
month  later  she  plunged  one  day,  frightened,  into  the 
water,  and  was  never  seen  again. 

Nearly  about  the  same  time,  another  seal  appeared 
suddenly  in  the  very  midst  of  the  port  of  Constantinople, 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  37 

undisturbed  by  the  number  of  caiques  dashing  to  and 
fro,  and  the  noise  of  a  thousand  vessels  with  their  crews 
and  their  passengers.  One  day  the  boat  of  the  French 
legation  was  crossing  over  to  Pera,  loaded  with  wine  for 
the  ambassador.  A  drunken  sailor  was  sitting  astride 
on  the  cask,  and  singing  boisterously,  when  all  of  a  sud- 
den the  seal  raised  himself  out  of  the  water,  seized  the 
sailor  with  his  left  arm,  and  threw  himself  with  his  prey 
back  into  the  waves.  He  reappeared  at  some  distance, 
still  holding  the  man  under  his  fin,  as  if  wishing  to  dis- 
play his  agility,  and  then  sank  once  more,  leaving  the 
frightened,  sobered  sailor,  to  make  his  way  back  to  the 
boat.  Surely  nothing  more  than  one  such  occurrence 
was  needed  to  give  rise  to  the  many  romances  of  former 
ages ;  if  the  same,  even,  had  happened  in  earlier  days, 
the  seal  would  have  been  a  beautiful  Nereid,  who,  hav- 
ing conceived  a  passion  for  the  hapless  sailor,  had  risen 
to  take  him  down  to  her  palace  under  the  waves. 


n. 


ODD  FISH. 

"  And  four  great  beasts  came  up  from  the  sea,  diverse  one  from  another."— 
DANIKL  vii.  3. 

TN  the  whole  range  of  fabulous  monsters,  there  is  not  one 
that  has  met  with  greater  incredulity,  and  yet  main- 
tained its  hold  on  the  wonder  of  man  with  more  constant 
tenacity,  than  the  kraken.  From  time  immemorial  it 
has  appeared  again  and  again  on  the  pages  of  travellers, 
and  from  the  oldest  philosopher  to  the  days  of  Lacepede 
and  Buckstone,  these  faint  traces  of  its  true  character  and 
gigantic  proportions  have  been  carefully  examined,  and, 
when  stripped  of  the  usual  exaggerations,  been  found  to 
agree  with  the  actual  dimensions  of  a  genuine  and  for- 
midable monster. 

Aristotle,  whose  history  has  so  often  been  the  laugh- 
ing-stock of  the  half-informed,  and  whom  the  sceptics  of 
all  ages  have  been  delighted  to  use  as  a  type  of  unrelia- 
ble naturalists,  has  of  late  recovered,  step  by  step,  the 
veneration  which  he  enjoyed  in  the  Middle  Ages.  It 


ODD  FISH.  39 

would  be  an  interesting  task  to  gather  the  great  facts 
constantly  represented,  in  scientific  works  even,  as  new 
discoveries,  of  which  a  correct  sketch  is  already  contained 
in  the  works  of  the  ancient  savant.  Thus  he  seems  to  have 
known,  better  than  any  naturalist  down  to  our  own  day, 
the  nature  of  the  polypus,  who  in  all  probability  has  filled 
the  imagination  of  men  for  so  many  centuries,  under  the 
name  of  the  kraken. 

Trebius  tells  us  a  story,  on  the  other  hand,  in  which 
undoubted  facts  are  already  half-hidden  under  a  mass  of 
exaggerations,  of  which  Aristotle  never  became  guilty, 
however  common  they  were  in  the  writings  of  the  an- 
cients. A  polypus,  he  says,  came  every  night  from  the 
great  deep  on  shore  at  Carteja,  in  order  to  feed  upon 
salt  meat.  These  robberies  incensed  the  people,  who 
in  vain  tried  to  discover  the  intruder,  although  they 
surrounded  their  drying-places  with  high  palisades.  The 
polypus  took  advantage  of  a  large  tree  which  stood 
near  them,  and  by  means  of  an  overhanging  branch  that 
could  support  his  weight,  he  slipped  in  night  after  night. 
At  last,  however,  his  hour  came;  the  dogs  discovered 
him  one  morning,  as  he  tried  to  make  his  way  back 
to  the  sea,  and  soon  _hosts  of  men  surrounded  the  mon- 
ster,— at  a  distance  only,  for  the  novelty  of  the  sight, 
the  hideousness  of  the  monster  all  covered  with  brine,  his 
enormous  size,  and  the  horrible  odor  which  he  diffused 
on  all  sides,  nearly  petrified  the  poor  fishermen.  In  the 
meantime,  he  was  fighting  the  dogs  bravely,  now  striking 


4:0  WONDERS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

them  to  the  ground  with  his  two  larger  arms,  and  now 
beating  them  painfully  with  his  whip-like  tentacles.  At 
last  the  men  gained  courage,  and  with  their  tridents  they 
overcame  and  despatched  the  monster.  We  must  add, 
for  the  honor  of  Pliny,  who  quotes  the  account  of  Trebi- 
us,  that  he  looks  upon  it  as  a  prodigy,  and  in  his  quiet, 
quaint  way,  gives  the  reader  to  understand  his  reluctance 
to  vouch  for  the  statement. 

The  head  arid  the  arms  of  the  giant  were,  however, 
brought  to  Lucullus  and  carefully  measured.  The  former 
was  of  the  size  of  a  cask,  capable  of  holding  fifteen  am- 
phorae, with  a  beak  in  proportion ;  the  arms  were  thirty 
feet  long,  and  so  large  that  a  man  could  hardly  span 
them;  what  remained  of  the  flesh,  weighed  still  over 
seven  hundred  pounds.  Whether  Lucullus  had  it  dress- 
ed for  his  tables,  is  not  stated ;  we  know,  however,  that 
the  Romans  were  as  fond  of  the  flesh  of  these  hideous 
creatures,  as  the  fishermen  of  the  coasts  of  Normandy 
are  in  our  day  ;  it  is  firm,  but  savory,  and  assumes,  when 
cooked,  a  white  and  pink  color  which  looks  most  appe- 
tizing. 

Fulgosus  has  a  similar  story,  with  such  slight  variations 
only,  that  it  appears  essentially  the  same  account.  As- 
lian,  however,  furnishes  new  evidence  ;  for  he  states,  upon 
good  authority,  that  a  huge  monster  of  the  kind,  as 
large  as  the  biggest  of  whales,  was  killed  with  axes  by 
Spanish  merchants,  whose  magazines  it  was  in  the  habit 
of  robbing.  Pliny  adds  the  crowning-piece  of  wonder  : 


ODD  FISH.  4:1 

A  polypus,  he  says,  exists  in  the  great  ocean,  called  Arbas, 
whose  feet  are  of  such  enormous  size  that  they  prevent 
it  from  coming  into  the  Mediterranean,  as  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar  are  too  shallow  for  such  a  giant ! 

Very  different  are  the  accounts  which  take  up  the 
thread  where  antiquity  left  it  suddenly,  at  the  time  when 
Rome  fell, — heathen  gods  were  dethroned,  and  the  dark- 
ness of  the  Dark  Ages  fell  like  a  pall  upon  all  mankind. 
The  Scandinavian  seamen,  bold  like  no  other  sailors  on 
earth,  regular  vikings,  dwellers  on  the  great  deep,  colored 
all  their  relations  with  the  dark  and  dismal  tinges  of 
their  grim  northern  climate.  The  Greeks  and  the  Romans, 
even,  admired  only  what  was  beautiful  and  graceful  in 
nature,  and  thus,  although  they  knew  the  kraken,  they 
loved  not  to  dwell  on  his  monstrous  proportions  and  hid- 
eous appearance.  Their  poetry  never  alludes  to  them, 
and  their  art  disdained  to  stoop  to  such  repulsive  forms. 
Not  so  the  sombre  children  of  northern  twilight :  they 
also  know  the  kraken,  and  describe  it  with  remarkable 
correctness  in  their  soberer  moments ;  but  they  love  to 
dwell  upon  its  repulsive  features ;  they  exaggerate  its 
dimensions  and  its  ugliness ;  they  change  it  into  a  terri- 
ble being,  full  of  dread  power  and  malign  purposes ;  and 
then  they  believe  in  their  own  dreams  and  enjoy  like 
children  the  strange  delight  with  which  they  are  filled  by 
'their  very  fears.  They  go  on  increasing  its  size,  till  it  be- 
comes, to  their  excited  imagination,  the  Mountain  Fish,  and 
they  see  it  soon  everywhere,  in  their  land-locked  bays  and 


4:2  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

out  on  the  stormy  sea ;  when  the  thick  storm-clouds  lower 
till  they  touch  the  crest  of  the  waves,  it  is  the  kraken ; 
and  when  their  anchor  suddenly  strikes  upon  an  un- 
known shallow,  it  is  again  the  kraken. 

The  Norwegians,  especially,  loved  to  tell  wondrous 
tales ;  how  their  bold  seamen  landed  on  a  deserted  island 
which  showed  no  trace  of  life,  not  a  shrub  nor  a  blade  of 
grass,  and  while  they  still  wandered  about,  marvelling 
at  the  utter  desolation,  the  island  began  to  heave  and  to 
move,  and  behold  !  they  found  themselves  on  the  back 
of  the  monster  !  Great  authorities  came  to  confirm  the 
stories ;  saints  and  bishops  lent  the  weight  of  their  sacred 
character  to  the  accounts  given  by  laymen  and  heretics. 
Erick  Falkendorf,  a  bishop  of  Nidros,  wrote,  in  1520,  a 
long  letter  on  the  subject  to  Pope  Leo  X.  He  was  sail- 
ing, on  a  Sunday,  in  a  Norwegian  vessel  along  the  dis- 
tant coast,  and  bewailed  his  inability  to  celebrate  holy 
mass  on  firm  land.  As  he  mourned  and  prayed,  sud- 
denly an  unknown  islet  arose,  not  far  from  the  vessel ; 
the  crew  land,  the  sacred  vessels  are  carried  on  shore, 
and  the  holy  office  is  celebrated  with  due  solemnity. 
After  mass  they  return  on  board  ship,  and  immediately 
the  island  begins  to  tremble,  and  gradually  to  sink  back 
into  the  sea,  from  which  it  had  risen.  The  island  had 
been  a  kraken  ! 

Glaus  Wormius,  also,  who  is  generally  truthful  enough, 
relates  having  seen,  about  the  year  1643,  one  of  these 
enormous  monsters,  and  states  that  they  resemble  an 


ODD  FISH.  43 

island  far  more  than  an  animal.  He  expresses  his  belief 
that  there  are  but  few  krakens  in  existence,  and  cu- 
riously enough  adds,  that  while  they  are  themselves  im- 
mortal, the  Medusae  are  nothing  more  than  the  eggs  and 
the  spawn  of  these  monsters. 

Other  writers,  of  the  same  century,  confirm  his  state- 
ment, and  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  kraken — a 
faith  which  was  not  even  shaken  when,  in  1680,  the  car- 
cass of  one  of  these  monsters  was  for  the  first  time  dis- 
covered in  the  Gulf  of  Newangen,  in  the  parish  of  Asta- 
bough.  His  arms  had  become  entangled  in  the  countless 
cliffs  and  rocks  which  characterize  the  dangerous  coast 
of  that  neighborhood,  and  the  animal  had  died  there,  un- 
able to  extricate  itself.  When  putrefaction  commenced 
in  the  enormous  mass,  the  odor  became  so  offensive  for 
miles  and  miles,  that  serious  fears  of  a  pestilence  were 
entertained.  Fortunately,  the  waves  came  to  the  aid  of 
the  frightened  people,  tearing  off  piece  after  piece,  and 
carrying  it  into  the  ocean ;  and  when  tlie  last  remnant 
had  been  washed  away,  an  official  report  of  the  whole 
event  was  drawn  up  by  a  clerical  dignitary,  and  is  still 
to  be  found  in  the  government  archives  at  Drontheim. 

A  similar  case  occurred  on  the  Newfoundland  banks, 
where  polypi  abound  in  such  numbers  that  the  fisher- 
men of  all  nations,  who  congregate  there  in  the  season, 
use,  every  summer,  nearly  two  millions  as  bait,  with 
which  to  catch  codfish.  Towards  the  end  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, a  monstrous  specimen  of  this  class  died  on  these 


44  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

banks,  beyond  Pine  Light,  and  here,  also,  the  mass  of  pu- 
trifying  matter  was  so  enormous,  and  the  odor  so  intoler- 
able for  a  great  distance,  that  the  grave  apprehension  of 
an  epidemic  drove  the  fishermen  from  the  neighborhood, 
till  the  currents  had  carried  off  every  trace  of  the  terri- 
ble animal. 

Of  all  the  authors,  however,  who  have  given  us  more 
or  less  detailed  accounts  of  their  experience  with  the  soe- 
trolden,  or  sea-scourge,  as  the  Swedes  call  it,  Pontoppidan 
is  by  far  the  most  precise  in  his  statements. 

The  northern  people,  he  tells  us,  assert,  and  without 
the  slightest  contradiction  in  all  their  accounts,  that  when 
they  go  out  into  the  open  sea,  during  the  great  heat  of 
the  summer,  they  find  the  water  suddenly  less  deep,  and 
upon  sounding,  the  lead  frequently  marks  only  thirty 
fathoms.  The  fishermen  know  then  that  a  kraken  floats 
between  the  lead  and  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  and  they 
immediately  get  ready  their  lines,  for  they  knoAV  that 
where  the  monster  is,  fish  always  abound.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  depth  diminishes,  if  this  accidental  bot- 
tom moves  and  rises,  then  it  is  time  for  them  to  make 
their  escape  ;  for  the  kraken  is  waking  up  and  about  to 
rise,  in  order  to  breathe  and  to  stretch  out  its  huge  arms 
towards  the  sun. 

The  fishermen  hasten  away  with  all  their  might,  and 
when  they  can  at  last  rest  on  their  oars  at  a  safe  distance, 
they  then  see  the  enormous  creature,  whose  back  covers 
a  mile  and  a  half  of  sea.  The  fish,  taken  by  surprise  by 


I 

ODD  FISH. 


his  sudden  rising,  leap  frantically  about  in  the  small 
pools  formed  in  the  rugged  irregularities  of  his  back,  and 
then  a  number  of  points  or  shining  horns  appear,  gradu- 
ally rising  till  they  look  like  masts  with  their  yards  J 
these  are  the  arms  of  the  kraken,  which  are  so  powerful 
that  they  can  seize  the  ropes  of  a  large  ship  and  sink  it 
in  a  few  moments.  After  having  remained  a  short  time 
above  water,  the  kraken  sinks  down  again,  and  this  is 
scarcely  less  dangerous  to  vessels  near  by,  as  he  dis- 
places, in  sinking,  such  an  enormous  volume  of  water, 
that  whirlpools  and  currents  are  formed,  scarcely  inferior 
to  those  of  the  dread  maelstrom. 

Such  is  the  account  found  in  the  Natural  History  of 
the  learned  bishop,  who,  no  doubt,  wrote  what  he  con- 
scientiously believed  to  be  true,  although  he  cannot 
quite  disguise  his  own  scepticism  in  regard  to  some  of 
the  facts  mentioned.  It  is  very  diiferent  with  Augustus, 
of  Bergen,  a  man  of  critical  mind,  who,  not  having  seen 
a  kraken  himself,  collected  all  the  Scandinavian  accounts 
of  which  he  heard,  and,  after  examining  them  carefully, 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  does  exist  a  gigantic 
polypus — though  far  from  boasting  of  the  dimensions 
usually  attributed  to  the  monster — that  it  is  provided 
with  arms,  that  it  emits  a  strong  odor,  that  it  shows  at 
times  long  ventacles,  and  only  appears  in  summer  time, 
and  during  calm  weather.  It  is  remarkable  how  fully 
the  conclusions  of  this  learned  naturalist  have  been  con- 
firmed by  modern  discoveries. 


46  WONDERS  or  THE  DEEP. 

The  great  Linne,  a  Swede  in  heart  as  in  race,  seems  to 
have  been  troubled  with  strange  doubt  concerning  this 
pet  monster  of  his  countrymen ;  for,  after  having  sol- 
emnly introduced  the  kraken  into  his  Swedish  fauna,  and 
after  speaking  of  it  even  more  fully  in  his  great  work, 
"  The  System  of  Nature,"  he  suddenly  drops  him  in  the 
seventh  edition,  and  never  more  says  a  word  of  the  gi- 
gantic polypus.  This  did  not  have  much  effect,  however, 
on  the  sailors  of  his  and  of  other  lands,  as  they  were  not 
much  given  to  reading  Latin  works ;  and  in  Sweden,  as 
well  as  in  France,  the  faith  in  the  kraken  remained  as 
general  and  as  firm  as  before.  Countless  votive  offer- 
ings adorn,  to  this  day,  the  little  chapels  that  rise  high 
above  the  iron-bound  coast,  with  their  tiny  turrets  and 
tinkling  bells  ;  but  none  more  weighty  in  precious  met- 
als, none  more  thankfully  offered  to  the  Lord  of  the  Sea, 
than  those  which  speak  of  the  delivery  from  the  dread 
kraken.  One  of  these — in  the  church  of  "  Our  Lady  of 
the  Watch  at  Marseille  " — is  accompanied  by  a  touching 
recital  of  a  fearful  combat  with  the  monster  on  the  coast 
of  South  Carolina,  and  another,  hung  up  in  the  chapel  of 
St.  Thomas,  at  St.  Malo,  testifies  to  the  escape  of  a  slave- 
ship  from  the  arms  of  a  gigantic  polypus,  at  the  very 
moment  when  it  was  leaving  the  port  of  Angola. 

In  1783,  a  whaler  assured  Dr.  Swediaur  that  he  had 
found  in  the  mouth  of  a  whale  a  tentacle  of  twenty-seven 
feet  in  length.  The  report  was  inserted  in  a  scientific 
journal  of  the  day,  and  there  read  by  Deny  Montfort,  who 


ODD  FISH.  47 

at  once  determined  to  obtain  more  ample  information  on 
the  subject.  It  so  happened  that,  just  then,  the  French 
Government  had  sent  for  a  number  of  American  whalers, 
in  order  to  consult  with  them  as  to  the  best  means  by 
which  the  French  fisheries  could  be  revived.  These  men 
were  staying  at  Dunkirk ;  and  here  Montfort  questioned 
them,  and  upon  inquiry  it  appeared  that  two  of  them 
had  found  feelers,  or  horns,  of  such  monstrous  animals. 
Ben  Jon  son  saw  one  in  the  mouth  of  a  whale,  from  which 
it  hung  to  the  length  of  thirty-five  feet ;  and  Reynolds 
another,  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  sea,  forty-five  feet 
long,  and  of  reddish  slate  color.  But  of  all  the  reports 
which  he  heard,  the  following  was  the  most  minute  and 
yet  also  the  most  extraordinary : 

Captain  John  Magnus  Dens,  a  Danish  sailor  of  high 
character  and  established  uprightness,  deposed  that,  after 
having  made  several  voyages  to  China  in  the  service  of 
the  Gottenburg  Company,  he  had  once  found  himself 
becalmed  in  the  fifteenth  degree  S.  L.,  at  some  distance 
from  the  coast  of  Africa,  abreast  of  St.  Helena  and  Cape 
Nigra.  Taking  advantage  of  his  forced  inactivity,  he 
had  determined  to  have  his  ship  cleaned  and  scrubbed 
thoroughly,  and,  for  that  purpose,  a  few  planks  were  sus- 
pended on  the  side  of  the  vessel,  on  which  the  sailors 
could  stand  while  scraping  and  caulking  the  ship.  They 
were  busy  with  their  work,  when  suddenly  an  anchertroll 
— so  the  Danes  call  the  animal — rose  from  the  sea,  threw 
one  of  its  arms  around  two  of  the  men,  tore  them  with 


4:8  WONDERS  or  THE  DEEP. 

a  jerk  from  the  scaffolding,  and  sank  out  of  sight  in  a 
moment.  Another  feeler  appeared,  however,  and  tried  to 
grasp  a  sailor  who  was  in  the  act  of  ascending  the  mast ; 
fortunately,  the  man  could  hold  on  to  the  rigging,  and 
as  the  long  feeler  became  entangled  in  the  ropes,  he  was 
enabled  to  escape,  though  not  without  uttering  most 
fearful  cries.  These  brought  the  whole  crew  to  his  as- 
sistance; they  quickly  snatched  up  harpoons,  cutlasses, 
and  whatever  they  could  lay  hands  on,  and  threw  them 
at  the  body  of  the  animal,  while  others  set  to  work  cut- 
ting the  gigantic  feeler  to  pieces,  and  carrying  the  poor 
man  to  his  berth,  who  had  swooned  from  intense  fright. 
The  monster,  with  five  harpoons  thrust  deep  into  its 
quivering  flesh,  and  holding  the  two  men  still  in  its  huge 
arms,  endeavored  to  sink  ;  but  the  crew,  encouraged  by 
their  captain,  did  their  utmost  to  hold  on  to  the  lines  to 
which  the  harpoons  were  fastened.  Their  strength  was, 
however,  not  sufficient  to  struggle  with  the  marine  giant, 
and  all  they  could  do  was  to  make  fast  the  lines  to  the 
ship,  and  to  wait  till  the  forces  of  the  enemy  should  be 
exhausted.  Four  of  the  ropes  snapped,  one  after  the  other, 
like  mere  threads,  and  then  the  harpoon  of  the  fifth  tore 
out  of  the  body  of  the  monster  with  such  violence  that 
the  ship  was  shaken  from  end  to  end ;  thus  the  animal 
escaped,  with  its  two  victims.  The  whole  crew  remained 
overcome  with  amazement ;  they  had  heard  of  these 
monsters ;  but  never  believed  in  their  existence ;  and 
here,  before  their  eyes,  two  of  their  comrades  had  been 


ODD  FISH.  49 

torn  from  their  side,  and  the  third,  overcome  with  fright, 
died  the  same  night  in  delirium.  The  feeler  which  had 
been  separated  from  the  body,  remained  on  board  as  an 
evidence  that  the  whole  had  not  been  a  frightful  dream ; 
it  measured  at  the  base  as  many  inches  as  their  mizzen- 
mast,  was  still  twenty-five  feet  long,  and  at  the  pointed 
end  provided  with  a  number  of  suckers,  each  as  large  as 
a  spoon.  Its  full  size  must  have  been  far  greater,  how- 
ever, as  only  part  of  it  had  been  cut  off,  the  animal  never 
even  raising  its  head  above  the  surface.  The  captain, 
who  had  witnessed  the  whole  scene  and  himself  thrown 
one  of  the  harpoons,  ever  afterwards  considered  this 
encounter  the  most  remarkable  event  of  his  checkered 
Life,  and  calmly  asserted  the  existence  of  the  kraken. 

All  these  ancient  accounts,  the  Norwegian  legends,  the 
reports  of  sailors  of  many  nations,  and  the  minute  de- 
scriptions of  Sicilian  divers,  who  spoke  of  polypi  as  large 
as  themselves,  and  with  feelers  at  least  ten  feet  long, 
could  not  fail  to  make  an  impression  upon  men  of  science, 
and  the  most  discreet  among  them  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  must  be  some  truth  amid  all  those  fables. 

It  was,  however,  reserved  to  our  century  to  strip  the 
facts  of  all  exaggeration,  and  to  establish  the  existence  of 
such  monsters  beyond  all  controversy.  A  kind  of  mol- 
lusk,  called  cephalopodes;  were  found  in  various  seas, 
whose  peculiar  formation  and  strange  appearance  suffi- 
ciently explained  the  marvels  told  of  the  kraken.  An 

elongated  sack  in  the  form  of  an  egg,  or  a  cylinder,  from 
3 


50  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

which  protrudes  at  one  end  a  thick,  round  head,  with  a 
pair  of  enormous  flat  eyes  ;  on  this  head,  at  the  summit,  a 
kind  of  hard  brown  beak,  after  the  manner  of  a  parrot's 
bill,  and  around  the  beak  a  crown  of  eight  or  ten  power- 
ful, long  arms — this  is  the  polypus,  which  passed  of  old 
for  a  kraken. 

On  the  inner  side,  each  one  of  these  gigantic  arms  or 
feelers  is  covered  with  a  double  row  of  suckers,  which 
resemble  a  small  cup  with  a  movable  bottom.  By  means 
of  these  cups,  which  the  animal  can  exhaust  of  the  air 
they  contain,  it  can  affix  itself  to  any  surface ;  and  as  it 
possesses  several  hundred  of  them,  its  power  is  naturally 
enormous.  Nevertheless,  they  use  these  feelers  only  for 
the  purpose  of  seizing  their  prey  and  handing  it  up  to  the 
beak,  which  then  goes  to  work  and  tears  it  to  pieces. 
Nor  is  their  manner  of  swimming  less  curious.  Their 
gills  require  a  large  quantity  of  water  to  furnish  them 
with  a  few  globules  of  air ;  to  provide  this  supply,  they 
are  covered  with  an  elastic  mantle,  which  the  animal  con- 
tracts when  it  is  full,  so  as  to  drive  the  water  it  contains 
through  a  tube  placed  between  the  eyes.  Every  time 
that  the  mantle  is  thus  contracted  and  the  water  expelled, 
the  latter  forms  a  kind  of  jet,  which,  striking  upon  the 
inert  matter  around,  gives  to  the  animal  an  impetus  in 
the  opposite  direction.  At  each  pulsation,  therefore,  it 
advances,  and  thus  it  travels  quite  rapidly  through  the 
water. 

The  cephalopodes  on  European  and  American  coasts 


ODD  FISH.  51 

are  generally  only  of  small  size,,  although  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  the  Adriatic  seas  some  have  been  found  of 
larger  dimensions,  and  others  still  greater  are  kept  in 
museums.  In  the  open  sea,  however,  vessels  have  en- 
countered genuine  giants  of  the  kind,  and  these  are,  no 
dtfubt,  the  true  representatives  of  the  kraken.  Rang 
met  one  of  the  size  of  a  ton,  and  of  reddish  color,  while 
Pennant  saw  in  the  Indian  Seas  an  eight-armed  cuttle- 
fish, with  arms  of  fifty-four  feet  in  length  and  a  body  of 
twelve  feet  in  breadth ;  thus  making  it  extend,  from  point 
to  point,  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  A  naturalist  of 
Copenhagen,  who  has  made  the  study  of  these  animals 
his  specialty — Steenstrup — had  occasion  to  examine  one 
of  these  monsters  in  1855,  on  the  coast  of  Gothland, 
where  it  had  been  caught  by  fishermen.  It  required  sev- 
eral carts  to  carry  the  body  off;  and  the  hind  part  of 
the  mouth,  which  he  saved  from  destruction,  still  had 
the  size  of  an  infant's  head.  The  museum  at  Utrecht 
contains  a  specimen  of  a  colossal  cephalopode  ;  and  our 
own  Mr.  Barnum  was,  of  course,  not  without  at  least 
one  of  the  feelers  of  such  a  giant,  as  thick  as  a  man's 
body,  and  over  ten  feet  long.  Wm.  Buckland,  the 
great  naturalist's  son,  and  an  excellent  observer  himself, 
took  pains  to  examine  the  varieties  known  to  the  British 
coast,  and  allowed  one  small  specimen  to  grasp  his  hand 
and  arm.  He  describes  the  feeling  to  be  such  as  if  a 
hundred  tiny  air  pumps  had  been  applied  at  once,  and 
little  red  marks  were  left  on  the  skin  where  the  suckers 


52  WONDERS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

had  been  at  work.  "  The  sensation,"  he  says,  "  of  being 
held  fast  by  a  (literally)  cold-blooded,  soulless,  pitiless 
and  voracious  sea-monster,  almost  makes  one's  blood 
run  cold.  I  can  now  easily  understand  why  they  are 
called  man-suckers ;  only  the  natives  of  the  Chinese  and 
Indian  seas  have  such  a  horror  of  them ;  for  in  thtffee 
climates  they  are  seen  large  and  formidable  enough  to 
be  dangerous  to  any  human  being  who  may  be  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  be  clutched  by  them."  Victor  Hugo's 
description  of  his  monster  in  the  "  Travailleurs  de  la 
Mer,"  is,  of  course,  far  more  graphic  and  poetical,  though 
hardly  less  to  the  point.  On  the  logs  of  many  a  vessel, 
encounters  with  colossal  mollusks  of  this  kind  have  since 
been  entered,  and  although  the  largest  ever  accurately 
measured — by  a  French  man-of-war's  men — was  only 
twelve  feet  long  in  body,  with  feelers  of  fifty  feet  length, 
enough  has  been  seen  and  recorded  in  our  days  to  justify 
the  conviction  that  the  wonders  of  the  deep  are  not  yet 
all  known,  and  that  animals  like  the  kraken  may  be  still 
in  existence. 

The  twin  brother  of  the  kraken,  both  in  its  marvellous 
size  and  in  the  incredulity  which  all  descriptions  have 
excited,  is  the  famous  sea-serpent.  Its  history  is  as  old 
as  the  oldest  record ;  no  age  and  no  seafaring  nation  has 
been  without  some  account  concerning  its  appearance, 
and  yet  to  this  day  serious  doubts  are  entertained  as  to 
its  existence.  It  is  clearly  referred  to  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, where  the  prophet  Isaiah  sings : 


ODD  FISH.  53 

In  that  day  the  Lord  with  his  sore  and  great  and  strong  sword 

Shall  punish  leviathan,  the  piercing  serpent, 

Even  leviathan,  that  crooked  serpent, 

And  he  shall  slay  the  dragon  that  is  in  the  sea. 

Again,  when  Job  plead  his  uprightness,  and  the  Lord 
answered  unto  Job  out  of  the  whirlwind,  he  mentions 
behemoth  and  leviathan,  and  says  concerning  that  mon- 
ster : 

Canst  thou  draw  out  leviathan  with  a  hook  ? 

Or  his  tongue  with  a  cord  which  thou  lettest  down  ? 

Canst  thou  put  a  hook  into  his  nose  or  bore  his  jaw  through  with  a  thorn  ? 

*  *  *  *  #  # 

Shall  thy  companions  make  a  banquet  of  him  ? 

Shall  they  part  him  among  the  merchants  ? 

Canst  thou  fill  his  skin  with  barbed  irons  ?  or  his  head  with  fish  spears  ? 

*  *  #  *  *  * 

Who  can  open  the  doors  of  his  face  ?    His  teeth  are  terrible  round  about. 

His  scales  are  his  pride,  shut  up  together  as  with  a  close  seal. 

One  is  so  near  to  another,  that  no  air  can  come  between  them. 

By  his  neesings  a  light  doth  shine,  and  his  eyes  are  like  the  eyelids  of  the 

morning. 

Out  of  his  mouth  go  burning  lamps,  and  sparks  of  fire  leap  out. 
Out  of  his  nostrils  goeth  smoke  as  out  of  a  seething  pot. 
His  breath  kindleth  coals,  and  a  flame  goeth  out  of  his  mouth. 

*  *  *  *  *  * 

When  he  raiseth  up  himself,  the  mighty  are  afraid : 

The  sword  of  him  that  layeth  at  him  cannot  hold:  the  spear,  the  dart,  nor 
the  habergeon. 

He  maketh  the  deep  to  "boil  like  a  pot :  he  maketh  the  sea  like  a  pot  of  oint- 
ment. 

He  maketh  a  path  to  shine  after  him ;  one  would  think  the  deep  to  be  hoary. 

Upon  the  earth  there  is  not  his  like. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  monster,  so  graphically  de- 
scribed by  the  voice  that  spoke  to  Job  in  the  whirlwind, 
has  been  sometimes  believed  to  be  the  elephant,  and  then 
again  the  crocodile.  But  in  the  Psalms,  Leviathan  is 
distinctly  mentioned  as  living  in  the  great  and  wide  sea, 
and  God  is  said  to  have  formed  him  to  play  therein. 


54  WONDEKS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

The  Jews,  therefore,  evidently  looked  upon  him  as  a  sea- 
serpent  of  colossal  size  and  most  formidable  appearance, 
identical  with  the  instrument  of  the  Lord,  of  which  He 
says :  "  And  though  they  be  hid  from  my  sight  in  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  thence  will  I  command  the  serpent 
and  he  shall  bite  them." 

These  imposing  descriptions  are,  moreover,  by  no 
means  limited  to  the  excited  imagination  of  Hebrew  wri- 
ters ;  other  nations  also  record  in  their  annals  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  gigantic  wonder  of  the  deep.  Palladius, 
for  instance,  speaks  of  a  serpent  of  the  Ganges,  which  he 
calls  grandly  an  odontotyrannus,  who  could  swallow  an 
elephant  without  straining.  Solin  has  heard  of  him  fre- 
quently, and  knows  that  he  lives  in  India  and  Ethiopia, 
crosses  the  Indian  Ocean  by  swimming,  and  travels  from 
island  to  island ;  while  Pliny  quotes  Solam,  who  found 
these  colossal  serpents  in  the  Ganges ;  "  They  were 
blue,"  he  says,  "  and  so  large  that  they  could  easily  seize 
and  drag  under  water  an  elephant." 

It  is,  however,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  that  we  find  the 
fullest  accounts  of  the  monster.  Pontoppidan,  one  of  the 
most  learned  Scandinavians,  who  was  long  bishop  of  Ber- 
gen, in  Norway,  and  died  as  chancellor  of  Denmark,  in 
Copenhagen,  in  1764,  states,  in  his  interesting  contribu- 
tions to  Natural  History,  that  in  his  country  every  body 
believed  firmly  in  the  great  sea-serpent,  and  if  he  or  any 
of  his  guests  ventured  to  speak  doubtingly  of  the  huge 
monster,  all  smiled,  as  if  he  had  been  uncertain  whether 


ODD  FISH.  55 

eels  or  herrings  really  existed.  The  good  people  of  those 
northern  regions  were  so  familiar  with  these  wonderful 
creatures,  that  they  spoke  of  two  distinct  kinds  of  sea- 
serpents,  one  living  in  the  sea  only,  the  other  amphibious, 
which  preferred  the  land  generally,  but  retired  periodi- 
cally to  the  great  deep.  Nicolaus  Gramius,  minister  of 
the  gospel  at  London,  tells  us,  that  during  a  destructive 
inundation,  an  immense  serpent  was  seen  to  make  its 
way  towards  the  ocean,  overthrowing  every  thing  in  its 
path,  animals,  trees,  and  houses,  and  uttering  fearful  roar- 
ings. The  fishermen  of  Odal  were  so  frightened  by  the 
terrible  sight,  that  they  did  not  dare  go  out  in  their 
boats  for  several  days.  . 

The  famous  Archbishop  of  Upsala,  Olaus  Magnus, 
who  bears  testimony  to  the  kraken,  also  speaks  more 
than  once  of  the  amphibious  serpent.  He  states  that 
they  leave  the  shelter  of  the  cliffs  near  Bergen  at  night ; 
they  have  a  mane,  their  bodies  are  covered  with  scales, 
and  their  eyes  send  forth  a  bright  lighf ;  out  at  sea  they 
rear  themselves  against  the  ship  they  encounter,  and  seize 
whatever  they  can  obtain  on  deck.  An  animal  of  this 
kind,  he  continues,  was  actually  seen  in  1522,  near  the 
island  of  Moos,  which  measured  over  fifty  feet  in  length, 
and  was  continually  turning  round.  Several  works  on 
Natural  History,  down  to  the  celebrated  compilation  of 
H.  Ruysch,  published  in  1718,  contained  pictures  of 
these  Norwegian  serpents.  Paul  Egede,  finally,  a  most 
trustworthy  man,  and  well  known  by  his  connection 


56  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

with  Greenland  missions,  which  he  helped  his  father  to 
establish  and  fostered  as  bishop,  not  only  bears  wit- 
ness to  the  frequent  appearance  of  such  sea-serpents  on 
the  Scandinavian  coasts,  but  describes  minutely  one 
which  he  met  himself  on  his  second  voyage  to  Green- 
land. 

If  we  believe,  therefore,  the  testimony  of  the  Hebrews 
and  of  the  Northern  nations,  there  exists  a  serpent,  liv- 
ing in  the  sea,  of  gigantic  proportions,  swimming  by 
vertical  movements,  in  which  it  is  aided  by  fins  which 
hang  down  from  behind  its  neck,  as  was  the  case  in 
fossil  reptiles  like  the  plesiosaurus,  and  covered  with  a 
thick  skin,  which  was  frequently  found  cast  off  on  desert 
islands.  On  the  back  it  has  a  shaggy  mane,  its  eyes  are 
large  and  brilliant,  and  the  head  is  shaped  somewhat  like 
that  of  a  horse.  It  is  only  seen  in  midsummer  and 
during  fine  weather,  for  the  want  of  stability  in  its  long 
flexible  body  disables  it  from  resisting  the  effect  of  high 
winds. 

Like  all  rare  animals  of  gigantic  proportions,  the  sea- 
serpent  naturally  excited  terror  in  the  few  persons  who 
ever  encountered  it ;  and  this  led,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
to  marvellous  stories  about  its  size  and  ferocity.  Sailors 
loved  to  tell  how  the  great  monster  would  throw  itself 
bodily  over  their  vessel  to  make  it  sink,  and  then  to  feed 
at  leisure  on  the  bodies  of  drowned  seamen.  Others 
told  frightful  tales  of  beloved  comrades,  who  were  sud- 
denly snatched  from  their  side  by  such  animals,  which 


ODD  FISH.  57 

appeared  unexpectedly  at  the  ship's  side,  raised  their 
colossal  head  and  neck,  and  instantly  disappeared  again 
with  their  victims.  Fortunately,  a  very  simple  means 
of  defence  is  at  hand,  according  to  the  belief  of  Norwe- 
gian sailors ;  these  monsters  have,  it  seems,  a  most  deli- 
cate sense  of  smell,  and  cannot  endure  the  odor  of  musk ; 
nothing  is  needed,  therefore,  but  to  scatter  some  musk 
on  deck,  and  the  terrible  animal  no  sooner  smells  it  from 
afar,  than  it  makes  off  and  dives  to  the  very  bottom  of 
the  sea. 

It  was,  however,  by  no  means  in  remote  times  only, 
that  the  sea-serpent  has  been  seen  by  travellers  and  sail- 
ors. Reports,  on  the  contrary,  abound  in  our  day  also 
of  such  encounters,  and  scarcely  a  season  passes  but  the 
monster  has  been  seen  in  our  own  seas,  or  in  more  distant 
parts  of  the  northern  ocean.  Officers  of  the  navy,  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel,  American  whalers  and  English  naviga- 
tors, all  agree,  without  essential  differences  in  their  state- 
ments, on  the  existence  and  general  forms  of  such  mon- 
sters. 

The  first  reliable  account  of  this  great  enigma  of  mod- 
ern days  came  from  a  ship  captain,  Laurent  de  Ferry,  of 
Bergen,  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  from  which  we  extract 
the  following  facts :  Towards  the  end  of  the  month  of 
May,  in  1746,  he  was  returning  from  a  voyage  to  Trund- 
hin,  when  the  weather  being  calm  and  warm,  he  suddenly 
heard  the  eight  men,  who  formed  the  crew  of  his  boat, 

whisper  to  each  other.     He  laid  aside  the  book  which  he 
3* 


58  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

was  reading,  and  then  noticed  that  the  man  at  the  helm 
was  keeping  off  from  the  land.  Upon  questioning  the 
latter,  he  was  told  that  there  was  a  sea-serpent  right 
before  them.  He  ordered  the  man  immediately  to  turn, 
and  to  steer  straight  upon  the  strange  animal,  of  which 
he  had  heard  much  during  all  his  life.  The  sailors  at 
first  showed  great  reluctance  to  obey,  but  as  the  monster 
was  right  before  them,  and  moving  in  the  same  direction, 
they  became  excited,  and  after  a  while  engaged  heartily 
in  the  novel  stern  chase.  The  captain,  fearful  that  the 
monster  might  escape,  fired  his  gun  at  it,  and  immediately 
it  plunged,  evidently  wounded,  for  the  water  all  around 
was  stained  red,  and  remained  so  for  two  or  three  min- 
utes. The  head,  which  rose  over  two  feet  above  the 
surface,  resembled  a  horse's  head :  it  was  gray,  with  a 
dark-brown  mouth,  black  eyes,  and  apparently  a  long 
mane  floating  over  the  neck.  Beyond  the  head  they 
could  see  seven  or  eight  coils  of  the  huge  serpent,  each 
of  enormous  size,  and  at  considerable  distance  from  the 
next.  The  animal  did  not  reappear ;  but  the  time  dur- 
ing which  it  was  clearly  in  sight  was  ample  to  enable 
the  captain  and  his  crew  to  examine  it  closely. 

The  only  other  report  which  is  perfectly  clear  and  pre- 
cise, has  a  Rev.  Mr.  McLean  for  its  author,  who  wrote 
from  the  Hebrides,  and  very  naively  exhibited  his  terror, 
His  statement  amounts'  to  this :  He  saw  the  sea-serpent 
in  June,  1808,  on  the  coast  of  Coll.  He  was  sailing  about 
in  a  boat,  when  he  noticed,  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile, 


ODD  FISH,  59 

an  object  which  excited  his  surprise  more  and  more.  At 
first  he  took  it  for  a  small  rock  among  the  breakers ;  but 
knowing  the  sea  very  well,  and  being  sure  that  there  was 
no  rock  there,  he  examined  it  carefully.  He  then  saw 
that  it  rose  considerably  above  the  surface,  and  after  a 
slow,  undulating  movement,  he  discovered  one  of  the 
eyes.  Alarmed  at  the  extraordinary  appearance  and  the 
enormous  size  of  the  animal,  he  cautiously  coasted  along 
near  the  land,  when  he  suddenly  saw  the  creature  plunge 
in  his  direction.  He  as  well  as  his  men  were  thoroughly 
frightened,  and  pulled  with  all  their  might  to  escape. 
At  the  very  moment  at  which  they  reached  the  shore, 
and  when  they  had  barely  had  time  to  climb  up  to  the 
top  of  a  large  rock,  they  saw  the  monster  glide  slowly  up 
to  their  boat.  Finding  the  water  quite  shallow  there,  it 
raised  its  horrible  head,  and  turning  again  and  again, 
seemed  to  be  troubled  how  to  get  out  of  the  creek.  It 
was  seen  for  half  a  mile,  slowly  making  its  way  out  to 
the  open  sea.  The  head  was  large,  of  oval  shape,  and 
rested  on  a  rather  slender  neck.  The  shoulders,  as  the 
good  pastor  calls  them,  were  without  gills,  and  the  body 
tapered  off  toward  the  tail,  which  was  never  distinctly 
seen,  as  it  was  generally  under  water.  The  animal 
seemed  to  move  by  progressive  undulations,  up  and  down ; 
its  length  they  estimated  at  from  seventy  to  eighty  feet ; 
it  moved  more  slowly  when  the  head  was  out  of  water, 
and  yet  it  raised  it  frequently  for  the  evident  purpose  of 
discerning  distant  objects.  At  the  same  time  when  Mr. 


60  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

McLean  saw  the  serpent,  it  was  also  seen  in  the  waters 
near  the  Island  of  Carma.  The  crews  of  thirteen  fishing- 
boats  were  so  frightened  by  its  terrible  appearance,  that 
they  sought  refuge  in  the  nearest  creek. 

Nor-  were  they  only  seen  out  at  sea  when  mistakes 
would  be  natural,  and  fright  or  intense  curiosity  might 
lead  to  unconscious  exaggeration,  but  the  body  itself  has 
been  found  and  examined  by  competent  persons.  Thus, 
to  mention  but  one  instance,  in  1808,  the  body  of  a  gi- 
gantic serpent  was  washed  on  shore  at  Stronsa,  one  of 
the  Orkneys.  A  Dr.  Barclay  was  summoned  at  once, 
and,  in  the  presence  of  several  justices  of  the  peace  and 
some  men  of  learning,  an  affidavit  was  drawn  up,  which 
stated  that  the  monster  measured  over  fifty  feet  in  length 
and  nine  feet  in  circumference;  that  it  had  a  kind  of 
mane  running  from  behind  the  head  nearly  to  the  tail, 
which  was  brilliantly  phosphorescent  at  night ;  and  tha.t 
its  gills,  nearly  five  feet  long,  were  not  unlike  the  plucked 
wings  of  a  goose.  Sir  Everard  Home,  it  is  true,  believed 
it  to  be  a  basking  shark  of  uncommon  size.  But  Glou- 
cester fishermen  repeatedly  saw  similar  animals,  and  the 
LinnaBan  Society  of  the  United  States  examined  carefully 
a  number  of  witnesses ;  the  same  has  been  done  in  Hol- 
land and  in  the  Dutch  colonies  of  Java,  and  everywhere 
evidence  has  been  obtained,  which  showed  remarkable 
unanimity,  and  precluded  the  idea  of  such  a  mistake. 

Does  the  sea-serpent  belong  only  to  the  realm  of  fancy, 
or  is  it  really  one  of  the  great  wonders  of  the  deep  ?  The 


ODD  FISH.  61 

question  has  never  yet  been  finally  decided.  That  there 
must  be  in  existence  animals  of  serpent-like  form  and  of 
gigantic  proportions,  seems  to  be  well  established  by  the 
concurrent  testimony  of  American,  English,  and  Norwe- 
gian eye-witnesses ;  and  the  mere  fact  that  no  specimen 
exists  in  the  museums,  and  that  no  such  monster  has 
been  encountered  of  late  years,  does  not  by  any  means 
disprove  the  experience  of  so  many  ages.  On  the  other 
hand,  great  allowance  must  no  doubt  be  made  for  the 
effect  of  fear  which  enlarges  all  objects,  the  desire  to  ex- 
cite wonder  which  leads  men  to  embellish  their  accounts, 
and  the  natural  tendency  to  add  to  original  accounts, 
which  results  often  unconsciously  in  exaggeration,  and 
has  in  all  probability  furnished  us  with  such  wonderful 
creatures  as  the  kraken,  the  roc,  and  the  phoenix. 

Nothing  in  these  descriptions  is,  besides,  actually  in- 
compatible with  the  laws  of  nature ;  and  the  study  of 
fossil  remains  establishes  beyond  doubt  the  fact,  that  in 
former  ages  gigantic  reptiles  have  peopled  the  sea,  which 
were  far  more  surprising  in  size  and  shape  than  the  much- 
doubted  sea-serpent.  There  is  no  necessity,  therefore, 
to  ascribe  all  such  encounters  to  simple  mistakes ;  now 
and  then,  perhaps,  a  long  string  of  algae,  moving  slowly 
under  the  impulse  received  by  gentle  winds  or  unknown 
currents,  or  masses  of  phosphorescent  infusoria,  floating 
for  miles  and  miles  on  the  calm  surface  of  the  sea,  may 
have  led  superstitious  sailors  to  fancy  they  saw  giant 
serpents.  But  it  is,  on  the  other  hand,  by  no  means  im- 


62  WONDERS  OP  THE  DEEP. 

probable  that  the  vast  deep,  of  which  so  little  is  as  yet 
known  to  man,  may  still  hold  some  of  the  giants  of  olden 
days,  and  that,  of  the  many  well-trained,  intelligent  peo- 
ple who  nowadays  "  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  and  do 
business  in  great  waters,"  some  may  yet  see  these  "  works 
of  the  Lord,  and  His  wonders  in  the  deep."  Fortunately, 
there  is  no  doubt  any  longer  surrounding  the  true  king 
of  the  seas — the  whale — and  yet,  he  is  of  truly  monstrous 
proportions.  It  is  a  perplexed  chapter,  to  be  sure,  in 
natural  history,  to  say  how  many  species  of  whales  there 
are ;  for  Jack  Tar  comes  home  with  confused  accounts 
of  Sulphur  Bottoms,  Broad  Noses,  Razor  Backs,  and  Tall 
Spouts,  and  a  host  of  other  names  by  which  he  learns  to 
distinguish  unprofitable  whales,  not  worth  the  toils  and 
perils  of  capture.  But  after  all,  this  only  shows  that  the 
family  is  very  fully  known  ;  and  well  might  this  be  so, 
if  we  remember  that  already  in  the  ninth  century  a  Nor- 
wegian Ohthere,  whose  wonderful  adventures  were  taken 
down  by  no  less  a  man  than  King  Alfred  himself,  speaks 
of  having  slain  sixty  such  monsters  in  two  days.  This 
is,  of  course,  impossible  ;  but  we  must  bear  in  mind  that 
there  is  nothing  in  nature  so  wonderful  that  the  human 
mind  does  not  love  to  add  a  finishing  touch  of  its  own, 
and  make  it  yet  a  little  more  monstrous.  Thus,  the  size  of 
the  largest  of  moving  things,  by  whose  side  even  elephants 
are  but  dwarfs,  has  been  exaggerated  ;  and  great  author- 
ities, of  recent  times  even,  have  gravely  described  it  as 
two  or  three  hundred  feet  long.  Nor  must  we  forget, 


ODD  FISH.  63 

that  since  the  Biscayans  and  Basques  first  dared  attack 
the  whale  on  the  high  seas,  in  1575,  all  seafaring  nations 
have  joined  in  the  pursuit,  and  naturally  tried  to  outstrip 
their  rivals  in  startling  accounts  of  the  prey  which  they 
hunt  on  the  hungry  waves,  with  toppling  icebergs  around 
them. 

In  early  times  the  Esquimaux  killed  the  true  whale  of 
the  North  with  harpoons,  to  which  large  bladders  of  air 
were  fastened,  which  prevented  the  poor  animal  from 
sinking  and  plunging ;  and  in  our  own  day,  good-sized 
steamers  go  out  on  the  whale  fishery  and  dispatch  them 
by  the  aid  of  galvanic  batteries.  Their  homes,  also,  have 
changed  with  the  times ;  the  Floridians,  who  were  once 
reported  to  kill  them  by  driving  pegs  into  their  blow- 
holes, no  longer  see  them  on  their  shores ;  while  new 
varieties,  formerly  neglected  on  account  of  their  activity 
and  energy  in  self-defence,  are  now  eagerly  sought  after 
in  distant  seas.  In  olden  times,  however,  strange  stories 
were  current  about  the  peculiarities  of  whales,  and 
among  them  the  accounts  of  men  swallowed  by  them 
hold  a  prominent  place.  They  arose,  no  doubt,  from  the 
biblical  account  of  Jonah,  who,  "  was  three  days  in  the 
whale's  belly ; "  but  as,  unfortunately,  the  animal  is  so 
made  that  the  mouth  will  easily  hold  a  boat  and  its  crew 
in  its  vast  space,  but  the  throat  is  too  narrow  to  allow 
even  a  mackerel  to  pass,  the  "  great  fish  "  must  have 
been  either  another  variety,  or,  as  some  think,  a  vessel 
called  by  its  name.  Nevertheless  a  great  author,  Four- 


64  WONDEKS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

nier,  recites  gravely  in  his  Hydrography,  the  following 
story : 

During  the  reign  of  Philip  II.,  King  of  Spain,  there 
appeared  in  the  great  ocean  a  whale,  very  different  from 
all  others  in  this,  that  he  floated  partly  above  the  sur- 
face, and  had  large  wings,  by  means  of  which  he  could 
move  like  a  vessel.  A  ship  encountered  him,  arid  broke 
one  of  these  wings  by  a  cannon-shot,  whereupon  the 
whale  entered,  very  stiffly,  through  the  Straits  of  Gib- 
raltar, and  uttering  horrible  bellowings,  went  ashore  near 
Valencia,  where  he  "was  found  dead.  The  skull  was  so 
enormous  that  seven  men  could  stand  in  it,  while  the 
palate  would  hold  a  man  on  horseback  ;  two  dead  men 
were  found  in  the  stomach ;  and  the  jawbone,  seventeen 
feet  long,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  Escurial. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  fable  that  has  been  from  of  old 
connected  with  these  true  giants  of  the  sea ;  their  size 
especially  has  given  rise  to  amusing  exaggerations  ;  and 
the  love  of  the  marvellous,  which  tempts  us  all,  has 
caused  the  most  extraordinary  stories  to  be  spread  far 
and  wide,  while  the  more  exact,  but  less  attractive 
descriptions,  have  been  culpably  neglected. 

Thus  Pliny  already  gravely  informs  us  that  there  were 
in  his  times  whales  found  in  the  Indian  Ocean  which 
measured  nine  hundred  feet ;  they  would,  therefore,  have 
easily  filled  a  whole  village.  Not  only  romance-writers, 
but  even  naturalists  of  renown,  like  Gesner,  in  his  work 
on  Fishes  (1551),  have  taken  pleasure  in  representing 


ODD  FISH.  65 

whales  as  animals  resembling  islands ;  and  in  speaking 
of  sailors  who  had  landed  unawares  on  their  back,  cov- 
ered, as  it  was,  with  a  mass  of  green  algse.  Saint  Am- 
brosius,  and  other  saints,  came  near  being  lost  by  such 
an  error,  if  we  believe  the  legends  of  the  Church.  The 
same  amusing  idea  occurs  in  that  delightful  book,  the 
"  Arabian  Nights,"  which,  it  is  well  known,  was  com- 
piled from  very  ancient  Arabic  legends  and  manuscripts. 
"  One  day,"  says  Sinbad  the  sailor,  "  as  we  were  sailing 
along,  a  calm  befel  us  near  a  little  island.  The  captain 
ordered  the  sails  to  be  furled,  and  allowed  all  who  chose 
to  go  on  land ;  I  was  among  those  who  landed.  But 
whilst  we  were  amusing  ourselves,  eating  and  drinking, 
the  island  suddenly  trembled,  and  gave  us  all  a  violent 
shock.  It  was  a  whale." 

The  fable  spread  rapidly,  especially  among  nations 
who  lived  far  from  the  sea  and  had  no  means  to  ver- 
ify the  truth  of  such  accounts  by  their  own  experience. 
They  were  all  the  more  readily  believed,  as  for  genera- 
tions no  other  books  were  accessible  to  the  masses  but 
the  Bible  and  Pliny  ;  and  both  of  these  authorities  spoke 
confidently  of  these  monsters ;  the  latter-  by  name,  the 
former,  as  was  then  universally  believed,  under  the  thin 
disguise  of  the  leviathan.  In  the  Orient,  of  course,  great- 
er exaggerations  still  were  added,  age  after  age,  such  as 
the  utter  ignorance  of  the  seas  prevailing  among  Eastern 
nations,  and  their  high- wrought  imagination,  loved  to  in- 
vent and  to  hear.  An  ancient  Jewish  work,  the  Bara- 


66  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

Bathra,  already  speaks  of  a  vessel  which  sailed  three  days 
over  a  whale,  before  it  accomplished  the  distance  be- 
tween head  and  tail :  and  Arab  authors  loved  to  assert 
that  the  earth  was  actually  resting  upon  a  gigantic  whale 
whose  occasional  tremors  were  the  cause  of  earthquakes. 
One  day,  they  add,  the  Evil  One  approached  the  animal, 
and,  laughing  at  the  patience  with  which  it  had  so  long- 
borne  an  useless  burden,  persuaded  it  to  shake  its  back- 
bone, and  thus  to  rid  itself  of  the  load.  The  globe  was 
just  about  to  be  shaken  off,  when,  fortunately,  some  one 
informed  Allah  of  the  impending  calamity,  who  hastened 
to  the  spot,  and,  after  a  long  discussion,  succeeded  in  ex- 
acting a  promise  that  the  whale  would  continue  to  uphold 
the  earth  a  few  thousand  years  longer.  The  Chinese  are, 
as  usually,  not  behind  other  nations  in  early  and  magnifi- 
cent accounts  of  their  own  giants.  In  an  ancient  work 
of  authority,  called  Tsi-hiai,  they  speak  of  a  whale  Pheg, 
which  beats  four  hundred  miles  of  ocean  into  foam  when- 
ever it  moves.  At  a  very  advanced  age,  this  monster 
of  the  deep  is  changed ;  it  becomes  then  the  famous  mon- 
ster of  the  air,  the  bird  roc. 

Now,  as  we  have  stated  before,  the  natural  history  of 
the  whale  is  perfectly  well  known,  and  we  will,  therefore, 
here  mention  only  one  feature  connected  with  the  giant 
which  is  not  as  familiar  to  all.  This  is  the  fact  that  the 
flesh  of  the  whale  is  excellent  food,  and  was  formerly  es- 
teemed most  highly.  It  was  for  a  long  time  a  royal  dish 
in  England,  and,  in  1243,  Henry  III.  summoned  the  sher- 


ODD  FISH.  67 

iffs  of  London  to  furnish  him,  for  his  table,  with  a  hundred 
whales  !  In  the  thirteenth  century  it  reappears  in  the 
housekeeping-book  of  the  Countess  of  Leicester,  and  for 
several  generations  afterwards  all  the  whales  cajught  in 
the  Thames  belonged  by  right  to  the  Lord  Mayor  of 
London,  who  had  them  served  up  in  state  at  great  mu- 
nicipal dinners.  Marteus,  in  his  northern  voyages,  ate 
whale  flesh  frequently ;  but  he  considered  it  coarse  and 
tough,  inferior  to  beef;  the  tail  only  furnished,  when  well 
cooked,  really  palatable  dishes.  The  Normans  used  to 
be,  in  former  times,  the  caterers  of  the  English ;  they  pos- 
sessed the  secret  of  several  recipes  by  which  to  cook  the 
rare  delicacy,  and  generally  served  the  pieces  of  meat 
with  tender  green  peas. 

The  main  use  to  which  the  whale  is  put,  remains,  how- 
ever, the  oil,  the  sperm,  and  the  whalebone,  and  these  are 
rich  sources  of  income  to  many  nations.  American  sperm 
whaling,  especially  in  the  Pacific,  has,  in  a  commercial 
point  of  view,  grown  to  immense  proportions.  When  New 
England  was  yet  a  colony,  gray-headed  men  would  point 
to  the  sea,  saying,  "  Those  are  the  fields  where  our  chil- 
dren will  reap  their  harvests ;  "  and  a  fleet  of  over  six 
hundred  sail  yearly  employed  in  hunting  the  sperm  whale 
now  realizes  the  prediction. 

Among  the  near  kindred  of  the  whale  is  the  famous 
unicorn — not  the  companion  of  the  lion  on  the  British 
coat-of-arms,  but  its  counterpart  among  the  wonders  of 
the  deep.  Inferior  in  size  to  the  right  whale,  it  has  the 


68  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

advantage  of  a  most  formidable  weapon,  with  which 
Nature  has  provided  it  for  as  yet  unknown  purposes. 
This  is  the  monstrous  tooth  which  projects  from  the  up- 
per jaw  of  the  animal ;  it  is  as  large  as  a  man's  thigh  at 
the  base,  turned  in  a  spiral,  and  sharply  pointed  at  the 
end ;  hollow  within,  it  shows  externally  the  finest  and 
whitest  ivory  known  to  the  trade.  The  Narwhal,  or 
nose-whale,  was  so  called  because  the  Dutch,  who  seem 
to  have  had  the  christening  of  most  quaint  things  in 
northern  regions,  at  first  took  this  horn,  projecting 
straight  ahead,  ten  or  even  fifteen  feet,  for  a  grotesque 
long  nose.  Some  say  the  animal  uses  this  odd  append- 
age to  pierce  holes  through  the  ice  when  he  comes  up  to 
blow  or  breathe ;  others,  that  he  mows  off  seaweed  with 
it,  on  which  he  grazes.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  at  times, 
he  transfixes  fish  with  his  gigantic  stiletto,  so  that  he 
may  be  able  to  devour  them  at  leisure. 

The  legend  has  it,  that  a  king  of  Denmark,  wishing  to 
make  somebody  a  present  of  a  piece  of  the  horn  of  the 
unicorn — for  such  it  was  long  considered — ordered  one 
of  his  high  officials  to  cut  off  a  piece  at  the  thicker  end 
of  a  fine  specimen  which  he  possessed.  The  officer  did 
so,  and,  to  his  astonishment  found  that  what  he  had 
looked  upon  as  a  solid  horn,  was  hollow,  and  in  the  con- 
cavity he  discovered  a  smaller  horn  of  the  same  shape 
and  the  same  substance.  The  latter  was  about  a  foot 
long,  and  this  resemblance  to  the  teeth  of  men  first  led, 
it  is  thought,  to  the  idea,  that  the  unicorn  might  after  all 


ODD  FISH.  69 

be  nothing  more  than  a  gigantic  tooth.  In  those  days, 
however,  the  superstitious  people  attached  marvellous 
powers  to  the  wonderful  horn,  and  a  brisk  trade  was 
carried  on  in  fine  specimens,  and  even  in  broken  frag- 
ments. 

The  male  alone  possesses  this  formidable  weapon ;  the 
female  having,  instead,  two  small  teeth,  of  little  use  for 
purposes  of  attack  or  defence.  In  the  male,  however, 
one  of  these  two  is  disproportionately  developed,  while 
the  other  remains  either  of  diminutive  size,  or  disappears 
gradually  altogether ;  very  much  as  is  the  case  with  the 
claws  of  certain  crustacese.  At  first  sight,  it  would  ap- 
pear as  if  this  giant  of  the  seas,  with  his  terrible  sword, 
would  be  the  terror  of  the  seas,  killing  and  devouring  all 
that  came  near  him.  In  reality,  however,  the  narwhal  is 
a  very  harmless  animal,  and  generally  his  own  enem 
more  than  that  of  others.  His  mouth  has  no  teeth,  and 
immovable  lips,  and  is  so  small  that  he  can  swallow  little 
else  but  mollusks  and  little  fish ;  and  Scoresby,  who 
found  in  the  stomach  of  one  of  these  strange  beings  a  ray 
of  two  feet  length,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  fish 
must  have  been  first  transfixed  by  the  tooth,  and  killed 
before  it  was  devoured.  Otherwise  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  understand  how  an  active  fish  should  have  al- 
lowed itself  to  be  caught  by  an  animal  unable  to  seize  it 
with  the  lips  or  retain  it  with  the  tongue,  and  in  a  mouth 
which  had  not  even  teeth  to  tear  it  to  pieces. 

Their  swiftness,  when  they  are  alone,  is  marvellous ; 


70  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

and  their  capture  would  be  almost  impossible,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  curious  habit  they  have  of  travelling  in  im- 
mense troops,  and  of  taking  refuge  in  little  bays,  from 
which  they  cannot  easily  escape.  Small  boats  approach 
them,  in  such  cases,  with  precaution ;  the  poor  animals 
begin  to  crowd  upon  each  other,  they  press  their  ranks  so 
closely  that  soon  their  movements  are  impeded,  and  their 
enormous  weapons  become  interlaced,  as  each  one  tries 
to  raise  the  head  high  into  the  air.  They  can  neither  es- 
cape nor  defend  themselves,  and  thus  fall  an  easy  prey  to 
the  lances  of  the  whalemen. 

Scoresby  thus  once  encountered,  on  his  voyage  to 
Greenland,  a  troop  of  narwhals,  divided  into  smaller 
bands  of  fifteen  or  twenty.  The  males  were  far  more 
numerous  than  the  females.  They  seemed  to  be  full  of 
sportive  gayety,  raising  their  huge  weapons  high  above 
the  water,  crossing  them  with  each  other,  and  uttering  a 
sound  as  if  they  were  gurgling  water  in  their  throats, 
while  they  seemed  to  amuse  themselves  with  the  play  of 
the  rudder  in  the  water.  At  other  times,  however,  they 
are  known  to  be  in  a  very  different  humor,  and  then  they 
attack  and  sometimes  pierce  large  whales.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  their  efforts  against  vessels  arise  from  ill- 
humor  and  pugnacity  only,  or  from  an  idea  that  the 
ships  are  large  whales.  Like  the  bees,  the  poor  nar- 
whals also  generally  seal  their  own  doom  when  they 
make  such  attacks ;  for  the  enormous  tooth,  driven  with 
prodigious  force  into  the  timber,  remains  fast  there,  and, 


FABLES  AND  FACTS.  71 

t 
breaking  off,  causes  the  death  of  the  ferocious  animal. 

At  times,  when  he  has  driven  it  in  right  at  the  stern,  the 
poor  creature  itself  is  fastened  to  the  ship  and  towed 
along,  until  it  dies  and  decomposes,  to  the  great  disgust 
of  the  sailors,  who  see  their  course  impeded  and  their 
senses  insulted  without  any  profit. 

In  the  Paris  Museum  there  is  a  complete  skeleton  of  a 
magnificent  narwhal,  with  a  tooth  of  amazing  size.  The 
marine  monster  here  shows  its  exquisite  adaptedness  to  the 
element  for  which  the  hand  of  the  Creator  had  fashioned 
it,  and  no  one,  on  seeing  the  slender,  flexible  form,  can 
doubt  its  far-famed  agility  and  terrible  strength. 

The  Greenlanders  eat  the  flesh,  and  obtain  from  the 
fat  an  oil  second  only  to  the  best  sperm  oil.  But  it  is 
the  tooth,  after  all,  which  has  made  the  narwhal,  at  all 
times,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  deep.  Long  before  the 
animal  itself  was  known,  the  tooth  was  familiar  to  tra- 
ders as  the  horn  of  the  unicorn.  The  monastery  of  St. 
Deny's  possessed  a  pair  of  these  remarkable  weapons, 
famous  for  their  size  and  the  beauty  of  the  ivory  ;  they 
are  now  in  the  Medical  Museum  of  Paris.  A  larger  one, 
nearly  nine  feet  long,  exists  in  the  treasury  of  the  Danish 
monarch,  at  Fredericksborg. 

When  they  were  not  kept  thus,  as  most  rare  curiosi- 
ties— the  unicorn  itself  having,  of  course,  never  been 
seen — they  were  manufactured  into  weapons  of  every 
kind,  swords  and  daggers.  But  they  were  also  endowed, 
in  popular  belief,  with  a  wondrous  power  of  counteract- 


UZUVBRSlf 
<?. 


72  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

ing  all  poisons ;  and  their  mere  presence,  it  was  thought, 
sufficed  to  defeat  any  attempt  at  poisoning  the  owner. 
Down  to  the  days  of  the  French  king,  Charles  IX.,  a 
piece  of  the  precious  substance  was  regularly  dipped 
into  the  cup  of  the  monarch  before  he  drank  ;  and  when 
the  great  founder  of  modern  surgery,  Ambroise  Pare, 
was  requested  to  raise  his  voice  against  the  superstition, 
he  replied  that  the  belief  was  universal ;  and  if  he  ven- 
tured to  contradict  it,  he  would  be  treated  like  an  owl 
appearing  in  bright  daylight,  which  the  other  birds  fall 
upon  and  kill,  and  then  think  no  more  of  the  murdered 
victim.  Nevertheless,  he  subsequently  wrote  openly 
against  the  custom,  and  with  so  much  skill  and  power, 
that  after  that  time  no  one  dared  avow  his  secret  faith 
in  the  virtue  of  the  unicorn's  horn  as  an  antidote. 

Wormius,  whom  we  have  mentioned  before,  was  the 
first  to  establish  the  true  character  of  the  strange  curi- 
osity. "  Finding  myself,"  he  writes,  "  a  few  years  ago, 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Fris,  Grand  Chancellor  of  Denmark, 
I  complained  of  the  want  of  curiosity  in  our  Greenland 
merchants,  that  they  should  never  have  inquired  after 
the  animal  from  whom  these  horns  were  obtained,  or 
brought  home  a  part  of  their  skin  at  least.  They  are 
more  curious  than  you  think,  replied  the  Chancellor,  and 
let  me  see  a  skull  of  immense  size,  to  which  a  portion 
of  a  so-called  horn  was  attached.  I  was  delighted  to 
see  so  rare  and  so  precious  a  thing.  I  saw  at  a  glance 
that  the  skull  resembled  that  of  a  whale,  and  had,  like 


ODD  FISH.  73 

. 

the  latter,  two  blowholes  on  top,  which  opened  into  the 
mouth.  I  also  noticed  that  what  was  called  a  horn,  was 
inserted  in  the  left  side  of  the  upper  jawbone.  Having 
learned  that  a  similar  animal  had  been  captured  and  car- 
ried to  Iceland,  I  wrote  at  once  to  the  Bishop  of  Holl, 
who  had  been  my  pupil,  and  requested  him  to  send  me  a 
drawing  of  the  same.  He  did  this  promptly,  adding 

« 

that  the  Icelanders  called  it  narwhal,  which  means,  a 
whale  that  feeds  on  corpses,  since  whal  means  a  whale, 
and  nar  a  corpse." 

It  was,  however,  a  fact,  that  the  Greenland  Company 
purposely  defeated  all  efforts  to  obtain  an  animal  of  this 
kind;  as  the  fictitious  value  of  a  horn  of  the  unicorn 
was  far  more  profitable  to  their  treasury  than  the  tooth 
of  a  narwhal.  In  1636,  two  of  their  vessels  had  bought 
some  fine  horns  from  the  natives  in  Davis'  Straits,  where 
they  had  been  compelled  to  winter.  Some  time  after- 
ward one  of  their  agents  went  to  Russia,  and  offered  to 
sell  the  Czar  Alexis,  the  father  of  Peter*  the  Great,  two 
of  these  precious  curiosities,  as  veritable  horns  of  that 
unicorn  which  is  mentioned  in  Holy  Writ,  and  spoken 
of  by  Aristotle  and  Pliny.  Alexis  admired  them  very 
much,  and  actually  offered  the  enormous  sum  of  six 
thousand  dollars  for  the  finest ;  but  before  concluding 
the  bargain,  he  proposed  to  consult  his  physician.  This 
man  was  learned  and  experienced  enough  to  examine 
them  properly,  and  he  soon  discovered  from  their  struc- 
ture that  they  were  teeth,  and  not  horns.  The  Czar 


74  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

dismissed  the  agent,  who  returned  crestfallen  to  Copen- 
hagen, and  received  for  his  consolation  the  sneering 
question,  why  he  had  not  first  offered  two  or  three  hun- 
dred ducats  to  the  physician,  who  would  then  have  seen 
as  many  horns  of  the  unicorn  as  he  could  have  wished  ? 


m. 
PEAELS. 

**  The  chief  place  among  all  precious  things  belongs  to  the  pearl."— PUNY. 

A  DUSKY  fisherman  in  the  far-off  seas  of  India  once 
•*"*•  found  a  pearl  in  an  oyster.  He  had  heard  of  such 
costly  gems,  and  sold  it  to  an  Arab  for  a  gold  coin  which 
maintained  him  for  a  whole  year  in  luxury  and  idleness. 
The  Arab  exchanged  it  for  powder  and  shot  furnished 
him  by  a  Russian  merchant  on  board  a  trading  vessel, 
who  even  yet  did  not  recognize  the  dirty,  dust-covered 
little  ball  as  a  precious  jewel.  He  brought  it  home  as  a 
present  for  his  children  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva,  where 
a  brother  merchant  saw  it  and  bought  it  for  a  trifle. 
The  pearl  had  at  last  found  one  who  could  appreciate  its 
priceless  value.  The  great  man — for  it  was  a  merchant 
of  the  first  class,  the  owner  of  a  great  fortune — rejoiced 
at  the  silent  fraud  by  which  he  had  obtained  the  one 
pearl  of  great  price,  without  selling  all  and  buying  it 
fairly,  and  cherished  it  as  the  pride  of  his  heart.  Visitors 


76  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP 

came  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  see  the  wonder.  He 
received  them,  in  his  merchant's  costume,  in  a  palace 
plain  without  but  resplendent  inside,  with  all  that  human 
art  can  do  to  embellish  a  dwelling,  and  led  them  silently 
through  room  after  room,  filled  with  rare  collections  and 
dazzling  by  the  splendor  of  their  ornaments.  At  last  he 
opened  with  his  own  key  the  carved  folding-doors  of  an 
inner  room,  which  surprised  the  visitor  by  its  apparent 
simplicity.  The  floor,  to  be  sure,  was  inlaid  with  mala- 
chite  and  costly  marble,  the  ceiling  carved  in  rare  woods, 
and  the  walls  hung  with  silk  tapestry ;  but  there  was  no 
furniture,  no  gilding,  nothing  but  a  round  table  of  dark 
Egyptian  marble  in  the  centre.  Under  it  stood  a  strong 
box  of  apparently  wonderful  ingenuity,  for  even  the  cau- 
tious owner  had  to  go  through  various  readings  of  alpha- 
bets, and  to  unlock  one  door  after  another,  before  he 
reached  an  inner  cavity,  in  which  a  plain  square  box  of 
Russia  leather  was  standing  alone.  With  an  air  akin  to 
reverence,  the  happy  merchant  would  take  the  box  and 
press  it  for  a  moment  to  his  bosom,  then,  devoutly  cross- 
ing himself  and  murmuring  an  invocation  to  some  saint, 
he  would  draw  a  tiny  gold  key,  which  he  wore  next  to  his 
person,  from  his  bosom,  unlock  the  casket,  and  hold  up 
to  the  light  that  fell  from  a  large  grated  window  above, 
his  precious  pet. 

It  was  a  glorious  sight  for  the  lover  of  such  things. 
A  pearl  as  large  as  a  small  egg,  of  unsurpassed  beauty 
and  marvellous  lustre.  The  sphere  was  perfect,  the  play 


PEARLS.  77 

of  colors,  as  he  would  let  it  reluctantly  roll  from  his 
hands  over  his  long  white  fingers  down  on  the  dark 
table,  was  only  equalled  by  the  flaming  opal,  and  yet 
there  was  a  soft,  subdued  light  about  the  lifeless  thing 
which  endowed  it  with  an  almost  irresistible  charm.  It 
was  not  only  the  pleasure  its  perfect  form  and  matchless 
beauty  gave  to  the  eye,  nor  the  overwhelming  thought  of 
the  fact  that  the  little  ball  was  worth  any  thing  an  em- 
peror or  a  millionaire  might  choose  to  give  for  it — there 
was  a  magic  in  its  playful  ever-changing  sheen  as  it 
rolled  to  and  fro — a  contagion  in  the  rapt  fervor  with 
which  the  grim  old  merchant  watched  its  every  flash 
and  flare,  which  left  few  hearts  cold  as  they  saw  the 
marvel  of  St.  Petersburg.  For  such  it  was,  and  the 
Emperor  himself,  who  loved  pearls  dearly,  had  in  vain 
offered  rank  and  titles  and  honors  for  the  priceless  gem. 
A  few  years  afterwards  a  conspiracy  was  discovered, 
and  several  great  men  were  arrested.  Among  the  sus- 
pected was  the  merchant.  Taking  his  one  great  treasure 
with  him  he  fled  to  Paris.  Jewellers  and  amateurs, 
Frenchmen  and  foreigners,  flocked  around  him,  for  the 
fame  of  his  jewel  had  long  since  reached  France.  He 
refused  to  show  it  for  a  time.  At  last  he  appointed  a 
day  when  his  great  rival,  in  pearls,  the  famous  Dutch 
banker,  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  other  men  well 
known  for  their  love  of  precious  stones  and  pearls,  were 
to  behold  the  wonder.  He  drew  forth  the  golden  key, 
he  opened  the  casket,  but  his  face  turned  deadly  pale, 


78  WONDEKS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

his  eyes  started  from  their  sockets,  his  whole  frame  be 
gan  to  tremble,  and  his  palsied  hand  let  the  casket  drop. 
The  pearl  was  discolored  !  A  sickly  blue  color  had 
spread  over  it,  and  dimmed  its  matchless  lustre.  His 
gem  was  diseased  ;  in  a  short  time  it  would  turn  into  a 
white  powder,  and  the  rich  merchant  of  St.  Petersburg, 
the  owner  of  the  finest  pearl  known  to  the  world,  was  a 
pauper !  The  pearl  had  avenged  the  poor  Indian  of  the 
East,  the  Arab,  and  the  poor  traveller,  and  administered 
silent  justice  to  the  wrongful  owner. 

There  is  injustice,  grievous  wrong  and  fearful  cruelty 
in  the  early  history  of  almost  all  oriental  pearls,  for,  as 
Barry  Cornwell  sings  so  well — 

Within  the  midnight  of  her  hair, 

Half  hidden  in  its  deepest  deeps, 
A  single  peerless,  priceless  pearl 

(All  filmy-eyed)  forever  sleeps. 
Without  the  diamond's  sparkling  eyes, 
The  ruby's  blushes— there  it  lies. 
Modest  as  the  tender  dawn, 
When  her  purple  veil's  withdrawn — 
The  flower  of  gems,  a  lily  cold  and  pale. 
Yet,  what  doth  all  avail  ?— 
All  its  beauty,  all  its  grace  ?— 
All  the  honors  of  its  place  ? 
He  who  plucked  it  from  its  bed, 

In  the  far  blue  Indian  Ocean, 

Lieth,  without  life  or  motion, 
In  his  early  dwelling— dead  I 
All  his  children,  one  by  one, 
When  they  look  up  to  the  sun, 
Curse  the  toil  by  which  he  drew  j 
The  treasure  from  its  bed  of  blue. 

For  sad  is  the  life  and  fearful  are  the  dangers  through 
which  the  unfortunate  pearl-diver  passes  before  his  few 


PEARLS.  79 

years  are  ended,  and  he  enters  into  eternal  rest.  How 
strange  is  the  providence  of  God,  which  places  the  pre- 
cious diamond  in  the  hand  of  the  poor  Brazilian  slave,  and 
grants  the  precious  pearl  to  the  half-starved  Indian  !  Far 
out,  off  the  coast  of  Ceylon  and  on  Bahrein  Island,  in  the 
Persian  Gulf,  are  the  great  deposits,  from  whence  come 
to  us  most  of  the  gems  we  value  so  highly.  It  is  a  strange 
sight  to  see  in  the  season,  in  the  months  of  February  and 
March,  those  desert  and  barren  spots  suddenly  bloom 
forth  in  gorgeous  colors,  as  the  sands  and  coral  rocks  are 
covered  with  tents  of  richly-dyed  materials,  and  a  motley 
crowd  assembles  on  the  forsaken  spot.  There  are  divers 
and  merchants,  fish-sellers  and  butchers,  boat-caulkers 
and  sail-makers,  jewellers  and  idle  talkers,  men  from  Asia 
and  Africa,  all  talking  loudly,  jostling  each  other,  eager 
to  become  rich  by  some  lucky  venture.  There  are  priests 
also,  who  levy  tribute  on  the  superstitious  fishermen,  im- 
posing offerings  and  prescribing  holidays,  so  that  the 
poor  fisherman's  earnings  are  half-spent  .in  advance,  and 
his  actual  work-days  amount  to  little  more  than  thirty 
in  the  season. 

When  all  is  prepared,  a  Hindoo  or  Parsee  blesses  the 
water  to  drive  away  the  sharks  —  for  a  consideration ; 
magicians  and  sorcerers  sell  amulets  and  utter  blessings 
— for  a  consideration ;  and  when  the  boats  are  ready  for 
a  start,  there  is  seen  in  the  chief  boat  a  jolly  old  cheat,  a 
conjuror  and  binder  of  sharks,  who  waves  about  his  skin- 
ny hands  and  jumps  and  howls,  till  the  poor  fishermen 


80  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

are  as  much  afraid  of  his  incantations  as  of  the  sharks 
themselves.  They  must  fast  rigidly,  while  he  performs 
his  wicked  rites,  nor  will  he  allow  them  to  start,  till  he 
has  declared  the  moment  propitious.  At  last  he  lifts 
up  his  voice  in  a  hideous  way,  the  divers  join  in  the 
chorus,  a  kind  of  toddy  is  made  and  liberally  distributed 
among  the  excited  crowd,  and  the  work  begins  in 
earnest. 

The  boats  generally  assemble  at  a  late  hour  of  the 
night,  and  when  all  are  together,  a  signal  gun  is  fired, 
whereupon  they  set  sail  for  the  banks,  which  are  not  far 
from  the  west  side  of  the  Persian  Gulf.  The  purpose  is 
to  reach  there  before  daybreak,  so  that  the  divers  may 
be  able  to  begin  the  moment  the  sun  rises  above  the 
dark  waters.  In  each  boat  there  are  besides  the  pilot, 
ten  rowers  and  ten  divers.  The  latter,  perfectly  naked, 
but  with  their  skin  well  rubbed  with  fragrant  oil,  work 
five  at  a  time,  leaving  the  other  five  to  recover  and  to 
recruit  in  the  meanwhile.  Before  they  jump  in,  they 
compress  the  nostrils  tightly  with  a  small  piece  of  horn, 
which  keeps  the  water  out,  stuff  their  ears  with  beeswax 
for  the  same  purpose,  fasten  a  network  bag,  which  is  to 
hold  the  oysters,  by  a  string  to  their  waist,  and  aid  their 
own  descent  by  a  large  stone  of  red  granite,  which  they 
catch  hold  of  with  their  foot.  Then  they  go  quickly 
down  to  the  bottom.  Here  they  dart  about  as  swiftly  as 
they  can,  picking  up  with  their  fingers  and  with  their 
toes,  which  they  use  with  wonderful  agility,  fill  their 


PEAELS.  81 

bag,  and  shake  the  rope  that  is  held  above  in  the  boat, 
in  order  to  be  drawn  up  at  once. 

In  favorable  weather  the  divers  may  go  down  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  times  a  day ;  if  the  weather  is  less  pro- 
pitious, they  dive  at  most  five  times.  They  remain  on 
an  average  not  over  a  minute  under  water ;  to  stay  there 
a  minute  and  a  half  or  two  minutes  is  possible  only  for 
a  few  expert  divers,  and  can  only  be  reached  by  extraor- 
dinary efforts.  A  few  who  have  endured  four  or  five 
minutes  are  spoken  of  as  we  speak  of  the  men  of  genius 
that  adorn  a  nation's  annals ;  and  the  greatest  of  divers 
is  a  half-fabulous  Indian,  who  remained  full  six  minutes 
under  water.  The  exertion  is  extremely  violent,  and 
generally  when  the  poor  men  return  to  the  surface,  blood 
flows  from  nose,  ears,  and  eye«.  Hence  divers  are  gen- 
erally unhealthy,  and  without  exception  short-lived. 
They  suffer  from  heart-diseases  and  sores,  and  are  easily 
recognized  among  the  mixed  population  of  those  regions, 
by  their  bloodshot  eyes,  staggering  limbs,  and  bent 
backs.  These  are  part  of  their  wages.  Sometimes  they 
die  suddenly  on  reaching  the  surface,  as  if  struck  by  a 
shot,  and  are  seen  no  more.  The  stories  of  some  of  their 
number  being  regularly  slain,  in  order  to  throw  their 
limbs  to  the  sharks  for  the  sake  of  saving  the  lives  of 
the  others,  or  of  eyeballs  starting  out  of  their  sockets, 
and  the  tympanum  of  the  ear  breaking  under  the  pres- 
sure of  the  water,  are  of  course  fables ;  but  the  pains, 

perils,  and  penalties  of  the  poor  pearl-divers  are,  in  all 
4* 


82  WONDEKS    OP   THE   DEEP. 

conscience,  sad  enough  to  surround  the  fruit  of  their 
labor,  the  beauteous  pearl,  with  a  melancholy  interest 
unknown  to  other  jewels.  They  have,  however,  their 
companions  of  suffering  in  higher  regions  also,  for  Dry- 
den's  words,  "  He  who  would  search  for  pearls  must  dive 
below,"  apply  to  gems  more  precious"  even  than  the  cost- 
liest of  oriental  pearls. 

The  coast  of  Ceylon,  however,  is  by  no  means  the  only 
place  where  pearls  are  found  and  fished.  In  the  Persian 
Gulf  more  than  thirty  thousand  men  are  employed  in 
three  thousand  boats,  and  the  produce  of  their  industry 
constitutes  the  chief  source  of  income  of  the  Imaum  of 
Muscat.  The  Red  Sea  also  furnishes  a  large  supply,  and 
these  three  localities  were  the  sources  from  which  the 
Romans  and  the  Greeks  obtained  their  pearls.  Inferior 
specimens  are  found  in  the  Pacific  and  the  West  India 
waters,  though  certain  fisheries  on  the  California  coast 
have  occasionally  produced  very  valuable  pearls. 

It  may  be  assumed,  however,  that  all  the  mountain- 
streams  of  Europe  and  America  furnish  a  limited  number 
of  shellfish,  which  contain  at  times  valuable  pearls.  In 
many  small  rivers  of  our  mountain  regions  small  pearls 
have  been  found,  and  one  of  considerable  size  was  a  few 
years  ago  picked  up  on  the  banks  of  the  James  River, 
near  Richmond.  Certain  streams  in  England  have  been 
fished  for  pearls,  in  ancient  times.  Already  Pomponius 
Mela,  one  of  the  oldest  Latin  writers,  states  that  the  seas 
of  Britain  generated  gems  and  pearls,  and  Suetonius  pre- 


PEARLS.  83 

serves  the  tradition  that  Julius  Caesar  was  tempted  to 
invade  the  distant  island  mainly  by  the  hope  thart  he 
would  enrich  himself  with  its  pearls  !  It  seems  to  be  a 
well-established  fact,  that  the  great  conqueror  brought 
home  from  there  a  breastplate  studded  with  pearls,  which 
he  dedicated  to  Venus  Genitrix  in  her  temple  at  Rome, 
and  on  which  there  was  an  inscription,  stating  distinctly 
that  these  pearls  were  British,  as  Caesar  wished  it  to  be 
understood  that  the  offering  was  formed  of  spoil  obtained 
in  Britain.  Pliny  mentions  these  pearls  as  small  and  ill- 
colored,  but  does  not  doubt  their  origin. 

Scotland  has  to  this  day  its  successful  pearl-fisheries, 
especially  in  the  river  Tay,  where  they  extend  from  the 
town  of  Perth  to  Loch  Tay,  and  where  the  mussels  are 
collected  by  the  peasantry  before  harvest-time,  when 
they  enjoy  conparative  leisure.  The  pearls,  however,  are 
generally  small,  or,  when  they  are  of  larger  size,  rather 
deformed.  It  is  constantly  affirmed  by  tradition,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  superb  pearl  in  front  of  the  Scottish 
crown  was  obtained  in  the  river  Ythan. 

Pennant  tells  us  that  English  rivers  also  were  noted 
for  having  several  kinds  of  mussels,  which  produced 
quantities  of  pearls,  and  that  there  are  regular  fisheries 
in  many,  as  in  the  Esk.  In  North  Wales,  the  river  Con- 
way  had,  and  still  has,  quite  a  reputation  for  its  trea- 
sures. Camden  gives  an  account  of  some  very  valuable 
pearls  found  in  his  time,  which  he  calls  as  large  and  as 
Well  colored  as  any  we  find  in  England  and  Ireland,  and 


84:  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

adds,  that  they  have  been  fished  for  there  ever  since  the 
Roman  Conquest.  Gibson,  who  translated  Camden,  says 
he  knew  a  Mr.  Wynn,  who  had  a  valuable  collection  of 
pearls,  found  in  the  Con  way,  among  which  was  a  stool- 
pearl,  of  the  form  and  size  of  a  button-mould,  and  weigh- 
ing seventeen  grains.  One  of  these  gems,  a  Conway 
pearl,  is  to  this  day  preserved  in  the  royal  crown  of  Eng- 
land ;  it  was  presented  to  Catharine,  the  Queen  of 
Charles  II.,  by  her  chamberlain,  Sir  Richard  Wynn,  of 
Giordir.  Even  in  our  day  these  fisheries  are  not  quite 
neglected,  but  they  represent  the  very  prose  of  the  pur- 
suit, as  the  dangers  and  difficulties  which  have  to  be  en- 
countered in  the  Far  East  constitute  its  poetry.  As 
soon  as  the  tide  is  out,  these  simple  fishermen  go  in  seve- 
ral boats  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  there  gather 
into  their  sacks  as  many  mussels  as  they  can  obtain  be- 
fore the  tide  returns.  These  are  thrown  into  huge  ket- 
tles over  a  fire,  to  be  opened,  and  then  they  are  taken 
out,  one  by  one,  with  the  hand,  and  thrown  into  tubs. 
One  of  the  men  steps  barefooted  into  these,  and  stamps 
upon  them  until  they  are  reduced  to  a  pulp.  Next  they 
pour  water  upon  the  mass,  to  separate  the  fishy  sub- 
stance from  the  heavier  parts,  which  contain  sand,  small 
pebbles,  and  the  pearls  that  may  have  been  obtained. 
After  numerous  washings,  the  sediment  is  put  out  to  dry, 
:md  the  pearls  are  carefully  laid  on  large  wooden  plat- 
ters, one  at  a  time,  with  a  feather.  When  a  sufficient 
quantity  is  gathered,  they  are  taken  to  an  overseer,  who 


PEAKLS.  85 

pays  the  fishermen  a  few  shillings  an  ounce  for  them. 
The  pearls  are  generally  of  a  dirty  white,  and  sometimes 
blue.  What  makes  this  fishery  singular  is  the  mystery 
which  hangs  upon  the  next  step  in  the  proceedings.  No 
one  knows  what  becomes  of  the  pearls.  The  fishery  is  a 
monopoly,  and  there  is  but  one  person  who  buys  them 
up,  and  as  he  keeps  his  counsel  most  jealously,  this  has 
led  to  very  fanciful  surmises.  One  curious  inquirer  was 
gravely  told  that  all  the  pearls  here  found  were  sent 
abroad  to  be  manufactured  into  seed-pearls,  and  another 
learned  that  they  were  exported  to  India,  in  order  to  be 
dissolved  in  the  sherbet  of  nabobs. 

Ireland  also  has  its  miniature  fisheries  ;  the  mussels  are 
found  set  up  in  the  sand  of  the  river-beds,  with  their  open- 
side  turned  from  the  torrent,  and  contain  occasionally 
fine  pearls.  In  Bavaria  the  poor  shellfish  are  treated  sci- 
entifically :  they  are  put  back  into  certain  localities,  fed 
with  a  peculiar  food,  which  frivolous  critics  say  is  scien- 
tifically prepared  by  the  great  Liebig,  and  subjected  to  a 
careful  treatment.  The  success  of  this  curious  project 
has,  however,  not  yet  become  public. 

The  question  how  the  pearls  were  originally  made,  led, 
in  olden  times,  to  many  absurd  fables,  and  even  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  were  not  free  from  the  wildest  theories.  Pliny 
gravely  asserts  that  the  oyster  feeds  upon  the  heavenly 
dew,  and  that  this  produces  pearls.  Boethius  has  the 
same  notion,  and  speaking  of  the  pearl-mussel  in  Scottish 
rivers,  he  says ;  "  These  mussels,  early  in  the  morning, 


86  WONDEItS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

when  the  sky  is  clear  and  temperate,  open  their  mouth  a 
little  above  the  water,  and  most  greedily  swallow  the  dew 
of  heaven ;  and  after  the  quantity  and  measure  of  dew 
which  they  swallow,  they  conceive  and  breed  the  pearl." 
Even  Harrison  still  claims  that  the  pearls  are  only  sought 
for  in  the  latter  part  of  August,  because  a  little  before 
that  time  "  the  sweetness  of  the  dew  is  most  convenient 
for  the  kind  of  fish  which  doth  engender  and  conceive 
them."  The  common  belief  in  the  East  is,  to  this  day, 
that  these  precious  gems  are 

"rain  from  the  sky, 
Which  turns  into  pearls  as  it  falls  in  the  sea ; " 

and  this  is  about  as  true  an  account  of  their  origin  as  the 
pretty  conceit  of  Robert  Herrick  : 

Some  asked  me  where  the  rabies  grew  ? 

And  nothing  did  I  say, 
But  with  my  fingers  pointed  to 
The  lips  of  Julia. 

Some  asked  how  pearls  did  grow,  and  where  ? 

Then  spoke  I  to  my  girl, 
To  part  her  lips,  and  showed  them  there 

The  quarelets  of  pearl. 

Alas  for  poetry  and  romance !  The  same  terrible 
science  of  chemistry  which  has,  with  its  sledge-hammer 
of  matter-of-fact,  converted  the  glorious  diamond  into 
vulgar  charcoal,  has  also  pronounced  the  precious  pearl 
to  be  nothing  but  a  few  layers  of  membrane  and  common 
carbonate  of  lime.  And  yet,  here  as  everywhere  in  God's 
beautiful  nature,  the  poetical  element  is  not  wanting,  if  our 
eyes  are  but  opened  by  wisdom  from  on  high,  to  see  the 


PEARLS.  87 

daily  wonders  by  which  we  are  surrounded.  The  pearls, 
aside  from  their  beauty  and  their  value,  are  superb  illus- 
trations of  that  beneficent  law  of  Nature,  by  which  in- 
juries are  converted  into  blessings,  and  Death  is  changed 
into  Life.  The  mollusks  are  all  made  after  the  same  mod- 
el, and  the  common  naked  snail,  as  well  as  the  mussel, 
the  cockle,  and  the  oyster,  the  awkward  garden-snail 
crawling  slowly  on  the  moist  ground,  and  the  graceful 
nautilus  sailing  lightly  over  the  blue  waves,  the  elegant 
and  the  rough,  the  rare  and  the  common,  all  show  the 
same  wisdom  and  marvellous  adaptation  of  form  to  their 
purpose  in  life.  The  body  is  invariably  of  soft  consist- 
ence, and  enclosed  in  an  elastic  skin.  From  this  skin 
exudes  continually  a  calcareous  matter,  which  resembles 
common  lime.  This  protects  the  animal,  and  serves  to 
form  its  shell.  Where  the  waves  are  rough  and  rocks 
abound,  there  this  house  also  is  rough,  hard,  and  stony, 
fit  to  weather  the  tempest,  and  to  roll  among  rocks :  where 
the  waters  are  smooth  and  only  halcyon  days  to  be 
looked  for,  there  Nature,  which  never  works  in  vain,  pro- 
vides only  paper  sides,  and  an  egg-shell  boat,  such  as  the 
little  nautilus  navigates  during  his  happy  life.  This  same 
calcareous  matter  which  the  animal  gives  out  without 
pain  and  without  labor,  also  fills  the  little  house  inside 
with  supernatural  beauty.  It  forms  that  beautiful  sub- 
stance, so  smooth  and  so  highly  polished,  dyed  with  all 
the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  and  resplendent  with  a  glori- 
ous opalescence,  which  still  charms  the  eye  in  spite -of 


88  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

its  having  become  so  common  in  all  our  houses.  This  is 
the  lining  of  the  shell,  the  nacre,  or  in  its  poetical  name, 
the  mother-of-pearl.  "  The  inside  of  the  shell,"  said  old 
Dampier,  the  stern  sailor  with  the  poet's  mind,  resem- 
bling himself  the  rugged  oyster-shell  with  the  beautiful 
lining  within,  "the  inside  of  the  shell  is  more  glorious 
than  the  pearl  itself." 

No  wonder  that  with  such  a  beautiful  house  to  live 
in,  the  oyster  should  seem  to  derive  its  share  of  plea- 
sure which  is  given  by  the  great  Maker  to  all  his  creatures 
on  earth,  from  an  effort  to  render  its  bed  always  soft 
and  cosy  to  lie  warm,  packed  in  close  and  comfortably. 
No  wonder  that  with  such  a  disposition,  the  animal 
should  become  a  sybarite,  and  fret  at  a  crumpled  rose- 
leaf  on  its  ivory  couch.  Hence,  as  soon  as  a  foreign 
substance  intrudes  by  some  means  or  other,  the  mussel 
begins  to  make  desperate  efforts  to  remove  the  irritation. 
It  has  no  means  to  resist  the  intruder ;  it  must  do  as  we 
have  to  do  where  our  evils  are  beyond  our  powers  of 
resistance ;  it  must  submit,  and  endeavor  by  the  means 
placed  in  its  power  by  a  beneficent  Creator  to  convert 
the  pain  into  a  pleasure,  the  grief  into  a  glory.  Hence, 
whatever  the  cause  of  irritation  may  be,  the  process  is 
invariably  the  same. 

Sometimes  a  tiny  grain  of  sand  or  some  similar  for- 
eign substance  slips,  in  a  moment  of  carelessness,  through 
the  opening,  and  gets  between  the  mantle  of  the  animal 
and  the  shell,  proving  soon  a  great  annoyance.  At  other 


PEARLS.  89 

times  some  enemy  of  the  poor,  helpless  shell-fish  goes 
deliberately  to  work  to  destroy  it :  he  fastens  himself 
to  the  outside,  and  perforates  the  shell  until  he  gets 
within  reach  of  his  prey.  In  such  cases,  the  animal  be- 
gins immediately  to  cover  the  intruding  grain  with  a 
smooth  coat  of  membrane  and  a  layer  of  nacre,  or  to 
plug  the  opening  in  like  manner  with  the  same  substance^ 
in  order  to  shut  out  the  intruder,  and  to  balk  him  in  his 
murderous  design.  These  accumulations  grow  from  year 
to  year,  and  finally  form  pearls  adhering  to  the  inner 
surface  of  the  shell. 

These  are,  however,  not  the  valuable  pearls  of  com- 
merce, which  are  always  found  loose  in  the  interior  or 
imbedded  in  the  soft  parts  of  the  animal's  substance. 
This  arises  from  the  fact  that  here  the  source  of  irrita- 
tion has  not  come  from  without,  but  originated  in  the 
interior  of  the  shell  itself.  The  cause  of  this  :  the  ani- 
mal produces  annually  a  number  of  eggs,  contained  each 
in  a  tiny  capsule  of  almost  microscopic*  size.  As  these 
eggs  germinate  and  become  diminutive  animals,  they  are 
thrown  out  by  the  mother,  to  become  mussels  in  their 
turn.  Every  now  and  then,  however,  an  egg  proves  abor- 
tive, and  is  not  thrown  out  with  the  others,  but  remains 
behind  in  the  little  capsule  in  which  it  was  originally 
contained.  This  capsule,  forming  part  of  the  animal, 
and  furnished  with  blood  and  supplies  of  every  kind  by 
the  latter,  is  gradually  covered,  like  the  whole  interior 
of  the  shell,  with  nacre,  and  thus  forms  the  future  gem. 


90  WONDERS    OF    THE    DEEP. 

This  is  the  way  they  are  made,  these  wondrous  beauties  ! 
Well  may,  therefore,  Sir  Everard  Home  exclaim :  "  If 
I  can  prove  that  this,  the  richest  jewel  in  a  monarch's 
crown,  which  cannot  be  imitated  by  any  art  of  man, 
either  in  beauty  of  form  or  brilliancy  of  lustre,  is  the 
abortive  egg  of  an  oyster  enveloped  in  its  own  nacre, 
who  will  not  be  struck  with  wonder  and  astonishment  ?  " 

All  pearls,  therefore,  have  in  the  centre  some  small 
foreign  substance,  or  a  tiny  cell,  which  is  surprising  by 
its  extreme  brightness  and  polish,  although  but  just  of 
sufficient  size  to  hold  the  original  egg.  If  a  pearl  be 
split  and  then  set  in  a  ring  with  the  divided  surface  out- 
wards, as  is  often  done,  a  magnifying  glass  will  reveal  to 
us  this  central  cell  quite  conspicuously,  in  the  form  of  a 
round  hole,  very  minute  it  may  be,  but  well  defined,  and 
showing  beyond  any  doubt  where  the  ovum  has  been  de- 
posited. Around  this  cell  an  additional  coat  of  nacre  is 
laid  evenly  and  smoothly  every  year,  and  thus  the  beau- 
tiful round  pearl  is  gradually  built  up.  Occasionally  one 
may  be  found  that  is  pear-shaped,  and  these,  when  per- 
fect, are  considered  the  most  valuable,  as  they  are  in  great 
demand  for  eardrops.  This  shape  arises  from  the  little 
foot  or  pedicle  to  which  the  egg  is  attached,  being  cover- 
ed with  nacre  as  well  as  the  egg  itself. 

The  great  beauty  of  pearls  consists  in  their  perfection 
of  form,  and  their  peculiar  lustre,  which  man  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  give  to  artificial  pearls,  except  in  rare  in- 
stances. This  lustre  arises  from  two  features  which 


PEAKLS.  91 

characterize  these  precious  jewels  of  the  deep:  their 
transparency  and  the  peculiar  structure  of  their  surface. 
For  pearls  are  transparent,  as  can  easily  be  ascertained 
by  holding  a  split  pearl  to  a  candle,  where,  by  interpos- 
ing a  colored  substance  or  light,  the  color  will  be  seen 
transmitted  through  the  pearl.  Now,  as  the  central  cell 
is  lined  with  a  highly  polished  coat  of  nacre,  and  the  sub- 
stance of  the  pearl  itself  is  transparent,  the  rays  of  light 
easily  pervade  it,  and  cause  that  peculiar  lustre  which 
characterizes  a  valuable  pearl. 

This  lustre,  however,  is  heightened  into  true  and 
superb  opalescence  by  the  delicately  grooved  surface  of 
the  pearl,  which,  Sir  David  Brewster  says,  resembles 
closely  the  fine  texture  of  the  skin  at  the  top  of  an 
infant's  finger,  or  the  minute  corrugations  which  are 
often  seen  on  surfaces  covered  with  varnish  or  oil-paint. 
In  other  words,  there  are,  beneath  the  immediate  polish 
of  the  pearl,  certain  tiny  wavelets,  and  dimples,  from 
which  the  light  is  reflected  in  subdued  and  undulating 
splendor.  From  the  flat  surface  of  the  lining  of  the 
shell,  the  mother-of-pearl,  these  rays  of  light  diverge  in 
all  directions,  and  hence  shine  in  rainbow  colors ;  in  the 
pearl,  on  the  contrary,  on  account  of  its  spherical  form, 
the  varied  hues  are  all  blended  into  a  white,  uniform 
light,  which  gives  to  this  gem  its  unrivalled  beauty  and 
high  value  as  an  ornament. 

These  lustrous  and  beautiful  spheres  are  the  coveted 
ornament  of  all  men,  and  immense  prices  are  paid  for 


92  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

those  of  perfect  form  and  largest  size.  Hence  man's 
cupidity  and  ingenuity  have  been  at  work,  from  time 
immemorial,  to  imitate  Nature's  handiwork,  and  to  pro- 
duce artificial  pearls.  In  the  harems  of  the  East,  and  in 
the  ball-rooms  of  Europe,  in  Chinese  homes,  and  at 
American  parties,  pearls  have  ere  now  dazzled  the  fash- 
ion, that  never  lay  in  an  oyster-bed,  as  bits  of  California 
rock-crystal  have  more  than  once  eclipsed  the  treasures 
of  Golconda.  The  result  of  such  labors  has  rarely  been 
satisfactory ;  with  the  exception  of  certain  French  imi- 
tations, seen  at  last  year's  Exposition,  no  pearls  have 
ever  yet  been  produced  that  could  not  readily  be  distin 
guished  from  the  genuine  product  of  shell-fish. 

It  is  not  a  little  curious  that  the  nearest  cognate  sub- 
stance is  bezoar,  a  concretion  of  deep  olive-green  color, 
found  in  the  stomach  of  goats,  dogs,  cows,  and  espe- 
cially camels.  The  Hindoos  generally  grind  it  into  yel- 
low paint,  but  when  harder  parts  are  found,  they  fall 
speedily  into  the  hands  of  jewellers,  who  polish  and 
thread  them,  and  then  sell  them  as  jewels.  Thus  it  is 
from  the  secretion  of  a  shell-fish,  and  from  the  stomach 
of  lower  animals,  that  man  gets  the  ornaments  he  most 
values  for  her  he  loves  best,  and  for  him  he  wishes  to 
honor  most ! 

Already  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  Empire  stories  were 
afloat  in  the  great  city,  of  Arab  tribes  living  near  the 
sandy  shoals  of  the  Red  Sea,  who  practiced  the  art  of 
making  artificial  pearls.  They  had  evidently  no  inkling 


PEARLS.  93 

yet  of  modern  ingenuity,  for,  if  we  are  to  believe  the 
Roman  writers  of  the  time,  these  innocent  children  of  the 
desert  went  yet  to  Nature  herself  for  aid  in  their  enter- 
prise, and  made  the  oysters  themselves  their  agents  in 
fabricating  artificial  pearls.  Apollonius  tells  us  how 
they  allured  the  credulous  shell-fish  from  their  cosy  bed 
in  the  warm  waters  below  to  the  surface,  by  pouring  oil 
on  the  waters,  to  make  them  smooth  and  calm,  arid  seiz- 
ing them  at  the  moment  when  they  appeared  on  the  sur- 
face to  imbibe  the  genial  air,  thrust  a  sharp  instrument 
through  the  gaping  valves  into  the  soft  body  of  the  ani- 
mal. Then  they  threw  them  into  a  colander  connected 
with  a  pan  or  trough,  into  which  the  exuding  juices 
slowly  trickled  in  the  form  of  round  pearly  drops.  The 
story  is,  of  course,  fabulous,  but  tends  to  show  how 
familiar  the  idea  of  making  artificial  pearls  had  already 
become  to  the  mind  of  the  ancients.  The  Chinese — that 
wonderful  people,  so  wise  as  children,  so  ignorant  in 
their  old  age— have  likewise  for  centuries  already  car- 
ried on  a  well-organized  system  of  manufacturing  pearls 
on  the  same  principle  of  forced  mussel-labor.  They 
claim  that  this  invention  was  made  as  early  as  the  thir- 
teenth century,  by  an  individual  whose  memory  they 
still  honor  annually  by  certain  ceremonial  acts  performed 
in  a  temple  specially  dedicated  to  his  name. 

The  large  manufactories  of  artificial  pearls,  which  now 
exist  near  Canton  and  at  Hutchefu,  near  Ningpo,  employ 
several  thousand  laborers  in  this  extraordinary  business, 


94:  WONDEES    OF  THE   DEEP. 

and  produce  every  year  a  perfectly  enormous  quantity 
of  pearls.  The  process  is  briefly  this :  in  the  months  of 
April  and  May  the  full-grown  mussels  of  that  year  are 
removed,  one  by  one,  from  their  beds,  and  have  small 
moulds  or  forms  pushed  inside,  which  are  to  serve  as 
nuclei  for  new  pearls.  A  piece  of  wire  or  a  few  metal 
beads  are  carefully  inserted  between  the  mantle  of  the 
animal  and  the  shell,  and  there  these  foreign  bodies  are 
left  embedded  in  the  soft,  muscular  substance  of  the  liv- 
ing shell-fish,  till  they  become  completely  incrusted  with 
a  thin  coating  of  nacre.  A  year  generally  suffices  to 
cover  them  with  a  thin  but  complete  coat  of  mother-of- 
pearl  ;  but  at  times  they  are  left  much  longer  undis- 
turbed, in  order  to  obtain  a  thicker  incrustation  of 
greater  beauty. 

There  is  in  the  British  Museum  a  pearl-mussel  which 
has  inside  the  shell  a  number  of  little  josses  made  of  bell- 
metal  and  completely  covered  and  coated  with  nacre. 

The  beads  so  procured  have  a  very  handsome  appear- 
ance and  considerable  lustre,  but  they  are  almost  always 
mis-shapen,  following  the  rough  outline  of  the  artificial 
kernel,  and  hence  they  can  be  sold  only  for  opaque  set- 
tings, or  for  embroidery,  when  the  imperfect  side  is  con- 
cealed. The  principal  object  of  these  factories  is  to  pro- 
duce the  small  idols  with  which  the  Chinese  adorn  their 
caps.  These  are  produced  by  little  tin  moulds  of  stereo- 
typed shape,  which  are  inserted  into  the  mollusk,  and 
soon  becoming  covered  with  an  extremely  thin  layer  of 


PEARLS.  95 

nacre,  appear  entirely  formed  of  the  lustrous  substance 
of  which  pearls  are  made.  The  deception  is  all  the 
greater  as  the  nacre,  though  infinitely  thin,  still  forms  a 
complete  and  unbroken  coat  of  exquisite  smoothness, 
which  cannot  easily  be  removed  by  force,  and  hence  is 
very  durable. 

In  Europe,  it  was  Linnseus,  the  great  botanist,  who 
first  broached  the  idea  of  producing  genuine  pearls  by  a 
similar  method,  and  offered,  in  1761,  to  sell  the  secret  to 
the  Swedish  Government  for  a  modest  sum.  The  country 
was,  however,  too  poor  to  purchase  the  discovery,  which 
thereupon  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  wealthy  merchant  of 
Gottenburg.  When  his  heirs  a  few  years  later  oiFered 
the  secret,  carefully  sealed  up  in  the  original  paper,  for 
sale,  it  had  already  become  known  through  the  publica- 
tions of  the  great  savant  himself,  and  all  the  world  was 
aware  that  the  pearl  was  the  result  of  an  injury  inflicted 
on  the  body  or  the  shell  of  a  mollusk.  Linnaeus  had,  him- 
self, in  his  collection,  several  genuine  pearls,  the  forced 
production  of  fresh-water  pearl-mussels. 

The  Venetians  had  long  before  made  pearls  in  their 
famous  glass-factories.  They  took  hollow  glass  beads 
and  injected  them  with  various  tinted  varnishes,  into  the 
composition  of  which  certain  mercurial  preparations  en- 
tered largely.  This  manufacture  was  soon  brought  to  a 
high  degree  of  perfection,  and  led  to  a  remarkable  evi- 
dence of  the  honesty  of  the  Great  Republic :  a  law  was 
passed  by  the  Senate,  toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 


96  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

century,  forbidding  the  sale  of  these  admirable  imitations, 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  fraudulent  to  make  or  sell 
beads  which  could  not  be  distinguished  from  genuine 
oriental  pearls !  The  island  of  Murano,  which  was  the 
original  seat  of  this  manufacture,  has  continued  until 
now  the  principal  locality  for  the  production  of  these 
artificial  or  seed-pearls,  and  their  sale  is  no  longer  ham- 
pered by  republican  regulations. 

The  city  of  Rome  boasts  of  equal  success,  but  achieves 
it  by  very  different  means.  Here  glass  is  not  so  easily 
obtained,  and  hence  beads  of  alabaster  are  carefully 
turned  to  a  perfect  sphere,  and  then  covered  with  a 
cement  which  consists  chiefly  of  finely-ground  mother- 
of-pearl.  They  do  not  pretend  to  compete  with  genuine 
pearls,  but  are  an  exceedingly  pretty  ornament,  and 
prove  their  popularity  by  never  going  out  of  fashion. 

The  French,  whose  brass  jewels  now  defy  detection, 
have  in  the  imitation  of  pearls  also  proved  themselves 
infinitely  superior  to  all  competitors.  A  few  specimens 
of  their  artificial  productions,  exhibited  at  the  Exposition 
of  1867,  could  neither  in  lustre  nor  in  water  and  color  be 
distinguished  from  oriental  pearls,  even  when  the  genuine 
and  the  sham  were  laid  side  by  side.  There  is  but  one 
way  by  which  they  may  be  discovered :  this  is  their  spe- 
cific weight — they  are  much  lighter  than  the  real  pearls. 

The  invention  of  their  composition  was,  like  so  many 
inventions  of  this  kind,  due  to  what  is  termed  an  accident. 
A  rosary-maker,  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV.,  was  walking 


PEARLS.  97 

in  the  garden  of  his  country-house,  near  Paris,  when  his 
attention  was  attracted  by  the  silvery  lustre  on  a  basin 
of  water.  He  inquired  the  cause,  and  found  that  a 
number  of  bleaks — a  small  white  fish  of  that  region — 
had  been  crushed  in  the  water;  further  examination 
convinced  him  that  the  lustrous  sheen  was  produced  by 
countless  scales  of  the  little  animals.  This  suggested  to 
his  inventive  mind  the  idea  of  using  the  scales  for  the 
manufacture  of  artificial  pearls ;  but  at  first  they  de- 
cayed too  quickly  to  be  of  any  use.  Long  reflection  led 
him  at  last  to  the  happy  thought  of  throwing  the  scales 
into  a  strong  alkaline  solution,  and,  lo,  the  danger  was 
removed !  Now  there  exists  large  factories  where  this 
substance  is  made.  Enormous  quantities  of  the  fish, 
which  fortunately  abounds  in  small  tributaries  of  the 
Seine  and  the  Marne,  are  caught,  and  the  scales  scraped 
off,  well  washed  in  water,  and  then  compressed  between 
folds  of  fine  linen.  The  fluid  which  trickles  from  them 
is  repeatedly  filtered  until  it  acquires  the  necessary  de- 
gree of  purity,  and  then  mixed  with  some  alkaline  solu- 
tion, to  prevent  the  animal-matter  that  remains  from  de- 
caying. This  is  the  famous  Essence  d'Orient,  and  it 
takes  from  seventeen  to  eighteen  thousand  fish  to  make 
one  pound  of  the  pure  essence. 

At  the  same  time  glass-beads  are  blown  with  special 
care  so  as  to  produce  perfect  spheres,  and  into  these  the 
costly  essence,  mixed  with  some  isinglass,  is  gently 

blown  by  means  of  a  blow-pipe.     As  if  by  a  magic  touch, 
5 


98  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

the  glass-bead  is  instantly  changed  into  a  lustrous  pearl. 
They  are  then  steeped  in  alcohol,  dried  over  a  hot  plate, 
filled  with  wax  or  cement  to  give  them  weight,  and 
finally  exposed  to  various  fumes,  which  constitute  the 
secret  of  the  manufacture. 

With  all  this  labor  and  ingenuity  a  pearl  is  produced 
— a  sham.  We  prefer  the  workmanship  of  Nature  in  the 
wing-shelled  pearl-bearer,  the  avicula  margaritifera^  a 
mussel  as  remarkable  for  its  beauty  and  eccentricity  of 
shape  as  for  the  pearls  which  it  contains.  It  is  now 
almost  exclusively  confined  to  the  tropics,  though  in 
ancient  times  it  seems  to  have  been  found  in  the  North- 
ern Seas  also.  Its  rivals  are  a  mya,  which  abounds  on 
the  shores  of  almost  all  seas,  and  a  unio,  the  British 
pearl-bearing  mussel,  found  in  rivers  and  small  sheets  of 
water.  These  modest  mollusks,  unpretending  in  appear- 
ance, but  full  of  precious  gems  within,  produce  the  pearl 
which  from  time  immemorial  man  has  valued  among  the 
most  precious  gems ;  for  there  are  few  things  so  immor- 
tal as  good  taste.  Even  the  inferior  pearls  have  their 
mysterious  value  in  the  eyes  of  many.  The  imperfect  or 
discolored  pearls  are  ground  up,  or  dissolved,  and  used 
as  medicine  in  Eastern  lands.  They  call  the  powder 
Majoon ;  it  is  an  electuary,  and  myriads  of  small  seed- 
pearls  are  ground  to  impalpable  powder  in  order  to 
make  the  costly  dose.  This  is,  of  course,  a  mere  matter 
of  taste,  for  the  simple  lime  from  the  iriside  of  the  shell 
would  be  in  every  respect  as  white  and  as  good,  and  com- 


mon  magnesia  would  have  preciseljrthe  iwmre"  effect.  But 
if  some  old  Emir  or  rich  Bouse  is  desirous  to  pay  an  enor- 
mous price  for  something  which  he  hopes  will  do  his  poor 
old  body  good — why  should  he  not  be  allowed  it  to  do 
so  ?  Have  not  his  betters  swallowed  everything  from 
pure  gold  to  toad's  brains,  from  tar-water  to  the  filings 
of  a  murderer's  irons  ? 

The  finer  pearls,  which  are  not  sold  on  the  spot  to  agents 
from  abroad,  are  sent  to  Europe,  and  of  these  the  most 
valuable  find  their  way,  in  the  course  of  trade,  very 
quickly,  to  London  and  Paris,  where  enormous  prices  are 
paid  for  fine  specimens.  This  mania  is,  however,  by  no 
means  of  recent  date,  for  antiquity  has  its  lessons  in  this 
respect  also.  We  all  know  how  Julius  Caesar,  when  he 
was  in  love  with  the  mother  of  Marcus  Brutus,  gave  her 
a  pearl  worth  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  our  money ; 
and  how  Marc  Antony  drank  one,  dissolved  in  vinegar, 
which  cost  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  ;  whilst 
Clodius,  the  glutton,  swallowed  one  worth  forty  thousand. 
The  example  of  Cleopatra  found  an  imitator  even  in  so- 
ber England.  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  not  otherwise  famous 
for  acts  of  folly,  still  so  mistook  the  meaning  of  loyalty 
that  he  ground  a  pearl,  which  had  cost  him  fifteen  thou- 
sand pounds,  into  a  cup  of  wine,  in  order  thus  fitly  to 
drink  the  health  of  his  great  queen  !  This  plagiarist 
again  had  many  rivals  in  the  mad  courtiers  of  Louis  XIV., 
who,  in  their  insane  extravagance,  were  wont  to  pulver- 
ize their  diamonds,  and  occasionally  used  the  powder  to 


100  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

dry  the  ink  of  letters  which  they  sent  to  their  beloved 
ones.  Is  diamond-powder  in  the  hair  much  worse  ? 

The  largest  pearl  on  record  is  probably  one  bought  by 
that  most  romantic  of  all  travellers  and  dealers  in  precious 
gems,  Tavernier,  at  Catifa,  in  Arabia,  where  a  pearl-fish- 
ery existed  already  in  the  days  of  Pliny.  It  is  said — for 
the  pearl  is  unknown  to  our  day — to  have  been  pear- 
shaped,  perfect  in  all  respects,  and  nearly  three  inches 
long  ;  he  obtained  from  the  Shah  of  Persia  the  enormous 
sum  of  a  hundred  and  eleven  thousand  pounds  for  the 
gem. 

Mr.  Hope's  pearl,  which  is  looked  upon  as  the  finest 
now  known,  is  two  inches  long  and  four  inches  round  ; 
it  weighs  eighteen  hundred  grains,  and,  like  all  such  rari- 
ties, is  of  such  enormous  and  uncertain  value,  that  no 
one  would  buy  it  at  a  market  price.  The  most  beautiful 
collection  of  pearls  belongs,  however,  to  the  Dowager 
Empress  of  Russia.  Her  husband  was  exceedingly  fond 
of  her,  and  as  he  shared,  with  other  fancies,  also  that  for 
fine  pearls  with  her,  he  sought  for  them  all  over  the 
world.  They  had  to  fulfil  two  conditions  rarely  to  be 
met  with :  they  must  be  perfect  spheres,  and  they  must 
be  virgin  pearls ;  for  he  would  buy  none  that  had  been 
worn  by  others.  After  twenty-five  years'  search,  he  at 
last  succeeded  in  presenting  his  Empress  with  a  necklace 
such  as  the  world  has  never  seen  before. 

As  this  admiration  for  fine  pearls  has  been  the  com- 
mon weakness  of  man  in  all  ages  and  in  all  countries,  we 


PEARLS.  101 

need  not  wonder  at  their  playing  a  prominent  part  in 
religious  writings.  The  Talmud  has  a  pretty  story, 
teaching  us  that  those  who  believed  in  it,  esteemed  but 
one  object  in  nature  of  higher  value  than  pearls.  When 
Abraham  approached  Egypt,  the  book  tells  us,  he  locked 
Sara  in  a  chest  that  none  might  behold  her  dangerous 
beauty.  But  when  he  was  come  to  the  place  of  paying 
custom,  the  officer  said :  "  Pay  custom !  "  And  he  said : 
"  I  will  pay  the  custom."  They  said  to  him  :  "  Thou 
carriest  clothes."  And  he  said :  "  I  will  pay  for  clothes." 
Then  they  said  to  him  :  "  Thou  carriest  gold."  And  he 
answered  them :  "  I  will  pay  for  gold."  On  this  they 
further  said :  "  Surely  thou  bearest  the  fine  silk."  He 
replied  :  "  I  will  pay  custom  for  the  finest  silk."  Then 
they  said :  "  Surely  it  must  be  pearls  that  thou  takest 
with  thee."  And  he  only  answered :  "  I  will  pay  for 
pearls."  Seeing  that  they  could  name  nothing  of  value 
for  which  the  patriarch  was  not  willing  to  pay  custom, 
they  said :  "  It  cannot  be  but  thou  open  the  box  and  let 
us  see  what  is  within  ! "  So  they  opened  the  box,  and 
the  whole  land  of  Egypt  was  illumined  by  the  lustre  of 
Sara's  beauty — far  exceeding  even  that  of  pearls  ! 

Hence  pearls  are  repeatedly  used  in  Holy  Writ  also 
for  the  most  solemn  comparisons,  and  to  denote  the  high- 
est degree  of  perfection.  In  the  Old  Testament  wisdom 
is  praised  as  above  pearls,  and  in  the  New  Testament  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  compared  to  a  pearl  of  great  price, 
which,  when  a  merchant  had  found  it,  he  went  and  sold 


102  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

all  that  he  had,  and  bought  it.  Even  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem was  revealed  to  St.  John  under  the  figure  of  an  edi- 
fice of  twelve  doors,  each  of  which  was  a  single  pearl. 

And  this  precious  gem,  fit  to  adorn  an  emperor's  crown, 
and  to  heighten  the  beauty  of  the  fairest  of  maidens — this 
pearl  of  great  price,  perfect  in  form  and  beauteous  in 
lustre — this  jewel  of  the  deep,  sought  for  at  the  peril  of 
human  life,  and  paid  for  with  the  bread  of  ten  thousands 
— it  sickens  and  dies  and  vanishes  in  a  day.  Every  now 
and  then  we  hear  of  a  noble  family,  which  prided  itself 
on  the  possession  of  magnificent  ancestral  pearls,  panic- 
stricken  by  finding  some  of  their  precious  gems  turning 
of  a  sickly  color  and  crumbling  into  dust.  It  is  but  a 
few  years  since  the  crown-jeweller  of  France  solemnly 
applied  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  for  a  remedy  against 
this  disease,  caused  probably  by  the  decomposition  of 
the  membranes  which  form  part  of  the  pearl,  and  are 
after  all  liable  to  decay  and  corruption,  like  all  animal 
matter,  by  contact  with  the  air.  There  was  no  answer 
given,  but  the  advice  to  preserve  the  precious  gems,  as 
much  as  possible,  from  the  influences  of  light  and  air ; 
and  the  Crown  of  France  has  since  lost  some  of  its  most 
highly-prized  jewels.  "  Behold,  all  is  vanity  and  vexa- 
tion of  spirit !  " 


IV. 


OOEALS. 


'  Unheard  by  them  the  roaring  of  the  wind, 
The  elastic  motion  of  the  waves  unfelt; 
Still,  life  is  theirs,  well  suited  to  themselves.' 


r\  LIDLNTG  slowly  over  the  blue  waters  of  the  Mediter 
"  ranean,  you  often  see  suddenly  beneath  you,  at  no 
great  distance  from  the  surface,  a  meadow  of  surpassing 
beauty.  Long  green  grass,  waiving  gently  to  and  fro, 
shine  with  emerald  beauty,  speckled  with  flickering 
lights;  and  all  over  the  little  prairie  are  scattered 
flowers  in  brilliant  colors.  The  restlessly  heaving  water 
increases  the  splendor  of  the  scene ;  and  'dazzling  hues 
of  green,  orange,  and  deep  red,  shine  upward  through 
the  transparent  waves.  But  the  oar  splashes,  and  in  an 
instant  all  the  beauty  of  coloring  has  vanished,  and  the 
whole  region  is  clad  in  a  dull  dingy  gray.  You  become 
aware  that  you  are  in  the  midst  of  a  colony  of  animals, 
so  small  that  the  naked  eye  can  hardly  discern  them,  and 
yet  so  powerful,  by  the  strength  of  their  united  forces, 
that  they  have  built  whole  islands  in  distant  oceans,  and 


104  WOKDEES   OF  THE   DEEP. 

raised  lofty  mountain  ranges  in  the  very  heart  of 
Europe.  But  they  are  most  sensitive  little  beings,  and 
the  slightest  touch  of  a  foreign  body,  a  single  ray  of  the 
sun,  or  an  angry  splash  of  a  headlong  wave,  makes  them 
shrink  back  into  their  narrow  home. 

They  are  altogether  a  strange,  mysterious  race,  these 
Maidens  of  the  Sea,  as  the  ancient  Greeks  used  to  call 
them.  Their  beauty  of  form  and  color,  their  marvellous 
economy,  their  gigantic  edifices,  all  had  early  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  curious,  and  given  rise  to  fantastic 
fables  and  amusing  errors.  They  were  well  known  to 
the  chosen  people,  for,  singing  of  the  grandeur  of  Tyre, 
the  prophet  states  that  "Syria  was  thy  merchant  by 
reason  of  the  multitude  of  the  waves  of  thy  making: 
they  occupied  in  thy  fairs  with  emeralds,  purple,  coral, 
and  agate ; "  and  ancient  Job  even  mentions  coral 
among  the  most  precious  things,  and  yet  was  not  fit  to  be 
mentioned  in  comparison  with  wisdom — thus  proving  the 
high  value  which  already  in  those  early  days  was  at- 
tached to  the  red  corals.  We  learn,  from  other  sources 
among  profane  writers,  that  priests  wore  them  as  amu- 
lets, and  physicians  prescribed  them  in  many  diseases  as 
useful  remedies ;  whilst  Pliny  enters  into  a  more  detailed 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  they  were  used  for  pur- 
poses of  ornament aticn,  how  weapons  were  adorned  with 
them,  and  costly  vessels  derived  additional  value  from  a 
few  deep-red  branches  of  the  Flowers  of  the  Sea. 

For  flowers  they  were  held  to  be  from  time  immemori- 


CORALS.  105 

al,  and  for  centuries  even  of  our  Christian  era.  These 
bright-colored,  delicate  forms,  which,  taken  out  of  their 
element,  changed  miraculously  in  an  instant  into  dingy 
brown  stones,  wrere  believed  to  be  real  water  plants,  which 
the  contact  with  the  air  turned  at  once  into  stone.  Nor 
is  this  belief  extinct  among  men :  the  dwellers  on  the 
coast  of  Southern  Italy  still  swear  to  it,  and  laugh  in  their 
beard  when  the  foreign  savant  speaks  of  them  as  life- 
endowed  animals.  It  seems  now  astonishing  how  men 
could  quarrel  so  long  and  so  pertinaciously  over  the  ap- 
parently simple  question,  whether  corals  belonged  to  the 
vegetable  or  the  animal  kingdom.  More  fortunate  in 
this  respect  than  many  other  organic  forms,  whose  social 
status  is  not  yet  recognized,  corals  were  already,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century,  raised  to  the  dignity  of 
animals.  This  was  not  achieved,  however,  without  much 
trouble  and  much  ludicrous  blundering.  It  was  a  young 
physician  from  Marseilles,  called  Peyssonel,  whom  the 
French  Academy  had  sent  to  the  coasts  of  Barbary,  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  salt-water  plants,  who  first  dis- 
covered their  true  nature,  and  observed  how  they  ex- 
panded and  contracted  at  will  and  moved  their  arms  with 
a  purpose.  He  communicated  his  discovery  to  the  great 
Reaumur ;  but  the  illustrious  naturalist  was  still  so  firmly 
bound  by  precedent  and  scholastic  method  that  he  refused 
to  endorse  the  bold  doctor's  statement,  withholding,  how- 
ever, with  equal  courtesy  and  discretion,  his  correspond- 
ent's name  ;  for  what  is  now  praised  as  a  noble  progress 


106  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

in  science,  appeared  to  him  a  rash  statement,  likely  to  in- 
jure the  growing  reputation  of  his  young  friend.  It  was 
only  after  an  interval  of.  twenty  years,  when  Trembley 
had  published  his  beautiful  discovery  of  sweet-water 
polypi,  and  Jussieu,  the  master  of  botany,  had  given  to 
corals  their  papers  of  dismissal  from  his  kingdom,  that 
Reaumur  made  the  amende  honorable,  and  acknowledged 
both  the  correctness  and  the  great  value  of  PeyssonePs 
discovery.  But  where  was  the  victim  of  his  previous  re- 
luctance to  appreciate  his  merit  ?  He  had  gone,  in  dis- 
gust and  despair,  to  the  West  Indies,  and  there  he  had 
disappeared  from  the  sight  of  men,  so  that  to  this  day  we 
know  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  of  his  death. 

Since  then  we  have  learnt  much,  but  by  no  means  all 
yet,  about  the  birth,  the  life,  and  the  end  of  corals.  In 
the  hot  summer-months,  when  the  waters  are  bringing 
forth,  as  in  the  days  of  the  creation,  the  moving  creature 
that  has  life,  millions  of  diminutive,  jelly-like  spawn 
are  thrown  out  by  the  parent  animal.  For  awhile  they 
enjoy  their  freedom,  and  seem  to  luxuriate  in  the  exer- 
cise of  their  powers  of  locomotion,  which  they  are  never 
hereafter  to  recover ;  but  soon  they  become  weary,  and 
settle  down  upon  some  firm,  stationary  body.  At  once 
they  begin  to  change  their  form ;  they  become  star-like, 
the  mouth  being  surrounded  by  tentacles,  very  much  as 
the  centre  of  a  flower  is  surrounded  by  its  leaves. 
After  some  time,  each  one  of  these  ray-like  parts  pushes 
out  extensions,  which  in  their  turn  assume  the  shape  of 


CORALS.  107 

tiny  stars,  and  establish  their  own  existence  by  means  of 
an  independent  mouth.  In  the  meanwhile  lime  has  been 
deposited  at  the  base  of  the  little  animal,  by  its  own 
unceasing  activity,  and  forms  a  close-fitting  foot,  which 
adheres  firmly  to  the  rock.  Upon  this  slender  founda- 
tion arises  another  layer,  and  thus,  by  incessant  labor, 
story  upon  story,  until  at  last  a  tree  has  grown  up  with 
branches  spreading  in  all  directions.  But  where  the 
plants  of  the  upper  world  bear  leaves  and  flowers,  there 
buds  forth  here,  from  the  hard  stone,  a  living,  sensitive 
animal,  moving  at  will,  and  clad  in  the  gay  form  and 
bright  colors  of  a  flower. 

This  flower  is  the  animal  itself,  seen  only  in  its  native 
element,  and  unfit  for  air  and  light.  What  we  call  coral 
is  its  house,  outside  of  which  it  prefers  to  live  rather 
than  within.  How  they  build  their  dwelling,  human  eye 
has  never  seen.  We  only  know  that  the  tiny  animals, 
by  some  mysterious  power  given  them  by  the  same  great 
Master  on  high  who  has  given  us  a  body  after  his 
image,  and  immortal  souls,  absorb  without  ceasing  the 
almost  imperceptible  particles  of  lime  which  are  con- 
tained in  all  salt-water,  and  deposit  them,  one  by  one, 
in  the  interior.  This  is  done  now  more,  now  less 
actively  ;  and  the  denser  the  deposit  is,  the  more  valua- 
ble the  coral.  Gradually  this  substance  hardens  and 
thickens,  until  in  the  precious  coral,  the  Isis  JVbbilis  of 
science,  a  large  tree  is  formed,  which  often  reaches  the  size 
of  a  man's  waist.  It  is  perfectly  solid  and  compact,  and 


108  WONDEKS    OP   THE   DEEP. 

adorned  on  the  surface  with  delicate,  parallel  lines. 
Thus  on  the  tree-shaped  limestone  grows  the  life- 
endowed  body  of  the  polypus  ;  it  moves,  it  feeds,  it  pro- 
duces others,  and  then  is  turned  again  into  stone,  bury- 
ing itself  in  its  own  rocky  house,  whilst  on  its  grave 
new  generations  build  unceasingly  new  abodes. 

This  is  the  so-called  Blood  Coral  of  the  common  peo- 
ple, the  favorite  of  antiquity,  and  the  fashion  of  our  day 
— next  to  the  pearl,  the  most  precious  jewel  of  the 
deep. 

It  is  not  easy  to  obtain  a  piece  of  living  coral,  for  the 
purpose  of  studying  its  wondrous  structure  and  admir- 
ing its  exceeding  beauty.  The  great  depth  at  which  the 
mysterious  little  animals  dwell  in  the  ocean  secures  them 
against  the  mere  amateur  fisherman ;  and  the  professional 
coral-fisher,  the  son  of  superstitious  races  in  Southern  Italy, 
is  extremely  reluctant  to  admit  outsiders  into  the  secrets 
of  his  trade.  If  you  ask  him  to  bring  home  for  you  a  few 
valueless  pieces,  he  is  afraid  of  witchcraft,  and  the  vessel 
you  have  given  him  for  the  purpose  is  filled  with  every 
animal  from  the  deep  but  corals.  If  you  follow  him  in 
your  own  boat,  as  he  sails  out  for  his  day's  work,  he  is 
more  seriously  frightened  still,  and  takes  to  the  open  sea 
— preferring  to  lose  rather  a  whole  day's  labor  and  profit 
than  to  betray  his  favorite  fishing-ground.  He  cannot 
comprehend  why  you  should  be  willing  to  pay  him  well 
for  what  has  no  value  in  his  eyes ;  and,  like  the  Arab 
who  suspects  every  travelling  Frank  of  seeking  after  con- 


COEALS.  109 

cealed  treasures,  the  poor  Neapolitan  fancies  you  possess 
a  charm  by  which  you  can  change  his  shells  and  sponges 
into  precious  pearls  and  corals.  Even  after  you  have 
succeeded  in  persuading  him  that  you  are  no  sorcerer,  and 
never  studied  in  the  school  of  that  great  magician,  Virgil, 
he  fears  you  may  betray  the  few,  simple  mysteries  of  his 
trade,  or  the  locality,  from  which  he  derives  his  support. 
It  requires  much  time,  much  money,  and  especially  much 
patience,  to  convince  him  of  your  innocence,  and,  even 
when  all  these  obstacles  are  removed,  he  still  pertina- 
ciously adheres  to  his  hereditary  superstition,  that  it  is  of 
no  use  to  try  catching  corals  alive,  as  they  are  sure  to  die 
of  fright  as  soon  as  they  behold  the  light  of  day.  Hence 
it  was  by  an  accident  only  that  I  was  fortunate  enough 
once  to  see  how  corals  are  fished,  and  to  examine  them 
closely,  when  fresh  caught. 

It  was  a  Sunday,  and  we  were  sauntering  up  to  the 
tall  olive-trees  of  St.  Hospice,  near  Nice,  in  order  to  en- 
joy there  our  self-caught  meal  of  lobsters  and  cuttle-fish, 
when  we  suddenly  caught  sight  of  an  odd-looking  craft 
lying  far  out  in  the  beautiful  bay  of  Villafranca.  The 
sails  hung  carelessly  about,  and  the  bowsprit  stood  bold 
upright,  being  crowned  at  the  top  with  a  couple  of 
saints  carved  in  wood,  while  below  two  huge  eyes  were 
painted  on  the  waist  of  the  vessel. 

"It  is  a  coraline,"  said  one  of  our  party,  an  Abbe, 
familiar  with  all  the  features  of  the  country ;  "  poor 
people,  who  will  stay  here  many  weeks,  catch  nothing, 


110  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

spend  all  they  have,  and  finally  sell  or  pawn  their  boat 
to  enable  them  to  return  home." 

"  They  have  come  for  the  great  coral-tree,"  said  our 
boatman,  who  was  carrying  the  hampers.  "  You  know 
the  one  that  grows  down  in  the  dark  grotto  near  Mount 
St.  Alban.  There  is  no  year  that  some  Neapolitans  or 
Sicilians  do  not  come  up  here  in  search  of  the  treasure, 
but  no  one  has  ever  yet  found  it." 

"  Can  you  imagine,"  asked  the  Abbe,  "  that  these 
people  really  believe  in  an  immense  tree  of  coral,  which 
grows  a  hundred  fathoms  below  the  surface  of  the  sea  in 
a  grotto,  large,  like  an  ancient  oak-tree,  and  stretching 
out  its  gigantic  branches  in  all  directions,  but  drawing 
them  in  instantly,  like  a  cuttle-fish,  when  a  net  comes 
near  ?  That  is  the  story  here,  and  these  poor  fishermen 
believe  in  it  as  firmly  as  in  their  Holy  Virgin,  and  laugh 
us  to  scorn  when  we  attempt  to  reason  with  them,  and 
prove  to  them  the  impossibility  of  such  a  thing." 

We  made  up  our  mind,  on  the  next  day,  to  go  on 
board  the  odd-looking  boat,  and  to  see  what  could  be 
learnt  from  the  crew.  Fortunately  one  of  our  party 
was  a  Neapolitan,  well  known  to  all  the  fishermen  on  the 
Chiaga,  and  speaking  their  curious  dialect.  By  a  num- 
ber of  masonic  signs  he  made  himself  known ;  and  the 
air  of  mistrust  and  repugnance  with  which  he  had  at  first 
been  received,  gave  way  to  a  less  suspicious  manner. 
The  padrone,  or  master  of  the  vessel,  was  an  oldish  man, 
with  a  .deeply-furrowed  face,  and  a  hard  expression  about 


CORALS.  Ill 

the  mouth,  which  did  not  promise  a  very  mild  govern- 
ment on  board.  They  are  a  strange  class  of  men,  these 
padroni  of  coral-boats,  hundreds  of  whom  come  annually 
from  Naples  and  Sicily,  from  Genoa  and  Sardinia,  and 
sail,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  adventurers  bound  from 
the  coast  of  France,  along  the  coast  of  Algiers  in  search 
of  precious  treasures.  How  on  earth  they  manage  to 
sail,  far  out  of  sight  of  land,  without  telescope  or  com- 
pass, and  there  on  the  broad  ocean  to  find,  year  after 
year,  the  precise  place  where,  far  down  in  the  deep,  there 
lie  vast  masses  of  rock,  which  contain  in  cleft  and  crevice 
the  desired  coral  branches,  is  more  than  ordinary  sea- 
manship can  explain.  Three  things  only  they  need  to 
aid  them  in  these  venturesome  journeys,  which  recall  to 
us  forcibly  that  first  great  search  after  the  Golden 
Fleece :  money  in  large  sums  for  the  outfit  of  their  cora- 
lines,  a  good  stock  of  falsehoods  to  screen  their  real  pur- 
poses, and  an  invincible  silence  to  oppose  to  all  direct 
questions.  They  have  a  saying  among  themselves,  that 
purse,  and  falsehood,  and  silence,  must  all  three  be  as 
deep  as  the  sea  in  which  they  mean  to  fish. 

Our  padrone  owned  himself  his  little  vessel,  which  did 
not  measure  over  five  tons;  his  son,  a  clever,  restless 
little  scamp,  served  as  ship-boy ;  and  three  sailors  suf- 
ficed to  handle  the  nets  and  to  work  the  boat.  They 
had  come  across  the  Mediterranean  from  Torre  del 
Greco,  near  Naples,  in  search  of  the  fabled  giant-tree, 
which  his  favorite  saint  had  shown  the  padrone  in  a 


112  WONDERS  OF  THE  DE.EP. 

dream.  There  was  no  log  and  no  compass  on  board, 
and  all  their  provisions  consisted  of  the  never-failing 
galetta,  a  white  ship-biscuit,  and  some  water ;  for  there 
is  no  cooking  on  board  these  coralines.  The  padrone 
was  proud  of  having  a  few  onions  and  some  dried  fish 
in  a  locker,  the  key  to  which  never  left  the  lucky  owner's 
pocket. 

We  found  that  the  fishing  was  done  with  a  large  net, 
fastened  by  a  stout  rope  to  the  stern  of  the  vessel.  At 
the  end  of  this  rope  hung  first  an  iron  cross,  consisting 
of  two  hollow  tubes  laid  cross-wise,  through  which 
strong  ash  poles  had  been  thrust,  and  to  this  were  fast- 
ened a  number  of  old  sardine-nets,  no  longer  fit  for  their 
first  purpose,  and  countless  ends  and  bits  of  wide-meshed 
pieces  of  rope,  as  thick  as  a  finger — the  whole  appa- 
ratus a  mass  of  rags  and  rotten  net-work.  But  the  more 
such  wretched-looking  pieces  of  net-work  the  padrone 
can  fasten  to  his  iron  cross,  the  better  are  his  chances. 
When  the  sea  is  perfectly  quiet,  he  lets  them  sink  down 
to  a  depth  of  sixty  or  even  a  hundred  fathoms,  where 
they  slowly  spread  and  unfold  themselves  over  a  vast 
extent.  Then  he  hoists  his  lateen-sail  and  slowly  drifts 
before  the  wind,  or,  in  a  calm,  sets  his  men  to  work  at 
the  huge  oars  of  the  vessel.  If  not  so  engaged,  they 
stand  watching  at  the  sheets,  the  oars,  and  the  tiny  cap- 
stan, to  obey  instantly  his  orders.  His  one  great  pur- 
pose is  to  wrap  as  large  a  number  of  his  fluttering  pieces 
of  net-work  as  he  can  around  the  branches  of  coral 


COKALS.  113 

below,  to  tear  them  by  main  force  from  the  parent  stems, 
and  to  wind  them  up,  together  with  the  fragments  of 
rock  to  which  they  are  attached. 

The  padrone  seeks  by  the  aid  of  his  mysterious  science 
a  favorable  spot  where  corals  grow,  and  his  delicate  and 
experienced  touch  feels  instantly,  by  the  gentle  stretching 
of  the  rope,  when  the  net  has  caught  hold  of  coral 
branches.  The  little  vessel,  no  longer  obedient  to  sail  or 
rudder,  is  held  in  check  by  the  stout  rope,  and  hence 
jumps  forward  and  backward  as  the  net  seizes  and  lets 
go  again  far  down  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  The  work 
is  hard,  and  the  perspiration  is  running  down  the  neck 
of  the  poor  sailors.  At  times  the  nets  are  caught  be- 
tween rocks,  and  the  boat  must  tack  and  vere  in  all  di- 
rections to  try  to  loosen  them  ;  at  other  times  the  padrone 
makes  desperate  efforts  to  creep  in  between  overhanging 
rocks,  into  a  narrow  cleft,  for  there,  in  eternal  shade  and 
almost  inaccessible  recesses,  they  believe  they  find  the 
largest  and  most  valuable  coral  branches.  Thus  they  try 
and  drift  along,  they  work  and  toil  and  draw  up  perhaps 
twenty  times  a  day,  and  each  time  it  is  a  mere  lottery. 
And  this  is  the  very  charm  which  this  kind  of  fishing  has 
for  the  poor  children  of  the  South  ;  they  hope  and  hope 
on,  and,  sick  or  well,  old  or  young,  not  one  of  them 
would,  when  the  season  comes,  willingly  give  up  his 
chance  of  finding  some  precious  tree  that  is  to  make  him 
rich  for  life. 

At  last  the  padrone  thinks  he  has  a  net  full.     The 


114  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

sailors,  whistling  a  tune  through  their  teeth,  man  the 
capstan  and  work  with  their  hearts  beating — a  jerk,  and 
the  net  is  loosened  and  conies  up  slowly,  slowly.  All 
eyes  are  eagerly  bent  upon  the  place  where  it  will  ap- 
pear on  the  surface  ;  at  last  it  shines  with  a  white  gleam, 
far  down  still.  If  the  pieces  of  net-work  appear  wide 
spread,  the  evil  omen  is  greeted  with  muttered  curses : 
"  Dio  grazia  !  Maledetto !  "  If  they  hang  straight 
down,  heavy-laden,  the  deepest  anxiety  is  seen  in  all 
features,  and  the  excitement  becomes  intense.  Now  it 
shines  reddish  !  "Santissima  !  "  exclaims  the  master,  and 
the  men  work  with  renewed  energy.  At  last  it  is  along- 
side. It  is  heaved  on  board  with  great  care,  and  now 
comes  the  task  of  picking  out  the  precious  treasure  from 
the  meshes  of  the  net-work,  and  to  loosen  them  from  the 
fragments  of  stone  on  which  they  were  growing. 

With  these  stones  a  thousand  odd  and  outlandish  citi- 
zens of  the  deep  are  curiously  intermingled.  Here  hang 
worthless  horn-corals,  and  among  them  the  Black  Hand 
of  the  sailors,  which  they  love  dearly  in  spite  of  its  use- 
lessness,  because  it  is  an  unfailing  sign  of  the  presence 
of  genuine  coral.  There  come  up  sepia-fishes  with  star- 
ing eyes,  long  waving  arms,  deformed  bodies,  biting 
beaks,  and  mighty  suckers,  abounding  in  weird  and  ghost- 
like shapes.  Between  these  frightful  forms  wave  sea- 
weeds with  broad,  green,  and  purple  fronds  ;  while  little 
tufted  bunches  of  red  and  white  and  violet  and  yellow 
lie  marvellously  close  to  feathers,  crusted  all  over  by  the 


COKALS.  115 

salt  sea-wave.  Elfish  faces,  with  huge  staring  eyes,  peep 
at  you  from  every  side,  and  seem  to  threaten  you  with 
wild,  unearthly  horrors  if  you  dare  touch  them.  A 
fulness  of  strange  things,  unseen  and  unsuspected  by  the 
dweller  on  firm  land,  comes  thus  forth  from,  the  hand  of 
Nature,  in  her  great  workshop  of  the  unfathomable,  fer- 
tile sea.  But  they  are  all  pitched  overboard  ;  only,  the 
men  are  sure  first  to  open  the  shell-fish  and  to  swallow  the 
contents  with  truly  marvellous  dexterity,  before  the 
shells  are  allowed  to  return  to  their  dark  homes  below. 
The  branches  of  coral  are  carefully  picked  out  down  to  the 
smallest  fragment,  and  great  is  the  joy  of  the  lucky  finder 
if  he  discover  a  piece  naturally  bent  in  the  shape  of  a  little 
horn,  for  it  is  an  amulet,  a  sure  protection  against  the 
dire  effects  of  the  Evil  Eye.  The  whole  is  thrown  into  a 
large  chest,  the  key  to  which  the  padrone  wears  hanging 
around  his  neck  along  with  a  tiny  bag  of  holy  relics ;  and 
if  there  should  be  a  peculiarly  thick  branch  among  them, 
he  places  that  in  some  mysterious  hidden  corner,  for  it  is 
very  valuable,  as  the  price  of  coral  increases  almost  in 
geometrical  proportion  with  its  size. 

When  all  that  has  been  fished  up  is  saved,  the  boat 
returns  to  the  harbor  and  delivers  the  result  of  the  day's 
labor  to  an  agent,  who  carefully  and  judiciously  assorts 
the  pieces  according  to  size  and  color,  and  sends  them 
at  once  to  Naples,  Leghorn,  or  Genoa,  where  they  are 
quickly  worked  up  into  every  kind  of  ornament. 

But  woe  to  the  poor  sailors  if  the  net  should  come  up 


116  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

empty,  or,  worse  still,  if  it  should  catch  at  some  project- 
ing point  of  rock,  and  refuse  to  come  up  altogether !  It 
is  they  alone  who  are  blamed ;  it  is  they  who  have,  by 
their  idleness  or  their  wickedness  forfeited  the  favor  of 
saint  and  madonna,  and  who  must  now  labor  and  toil 
until  exhausted  nature  refuses  to  sustain  them  any 
longer. 

The  only  way  to  examine  the  living  animal  is  to  seize 
the  little  fragment  of  rock,  or  the  shell  to  which  the  mys- 
terious creature  is  fastened,  at  the  very  moment  that  it 
appears  near  the  surface,  and  to  dip  it,  if  possible,  with- 
out exposing  it  to  the  air,  immediately  into  a  vessel  with 
salt-water,  which  you  hold  ready  for  the  purpose.  At 
first  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen  but  a  vague  indistinct 
mass  of  grayish  substance.  You  suspend  the  animal  and 
its  tiny  abode  by  a  string  in  the  middle  of  the  glass  globe, 
and  carry  it  to  a  dark  place ;  for  the  coral  will  not  dis- 
play its  beautiful  form  and  color  in  the  gleaming  light  of 
the  day.  It  takes  hours  often  before  the  obstinate  little 
creature  condescends  to  give  a  sign  of  life.  At  last  you 
fancy  that  the  club-shaped  extremity  of  the  dingy  red 
substance  begins  to  wrinkle  up  into  little  rings  here  and 
there.  You  take  up  your  magnifying  glass,  and  you  see 
with  joy  and  satisfaction  that  the  eight  star-shaped  in- 
dentations, which  mark  the  diminutive  wart-like  rising, 
assume  a  white  tinge,  contrasting  pleasantly  with  the  red 
at  their  base,  which  grows  every  moment  to  a  more 
lively  hue.  The  lines  widen  and  show  an  opening  be- 


CORALS.  117 

tween  two  bright-colored  lips ;  a  vague,  undefined  sub- 
stance rises  slowly,  like  a  transparent  globule,  but  soon 
it  grows  and  swells,  and  at  last  it  stretches  out  eight 
bright,  leaf-like  arms,  edged  all  around  with  delicate 
fringes.  Now  the  whole  resembles  strikingly  a  beauti- 
ful flower  of  eight  leaves,  not  unlike  a  gentian  or  a  cam- 
panula, and  you  acknowledge  at  once  how  pardonable 
was  the  error  of  those  who,  for  generations,  insisted  upon 
believing  the  strange  animals  to  be  nothing  more  than 
submarine  flowers,  endowed  with  the  power  of  motion. 

The  colors  are  brilliant  beyond  all  the  art  of  man  can 
produce.  In  the  true  coral  a  resplendent,  almost  daz- 
zling red  surrounds  the  base  of  the  bell-shaped  body  of 
the  animal,  whilst  the  latter  itself,  and  the  arms,  appear 
as  if  carved  out  of  transparent  crystal.  And  as  soon 
as  one  of  the  diminutive  creatures,  bolder  than  the  rest 
— or  more  hungry — has  set  the  example,  the  others  fol- 
low in  rapid  succession,  and  soon  the  whole  little  branch 
is  covered  with  living  flowers,  crowding  each  other  so 
closely  that  it  seems  as  if  they  would  prevent  one 
another  from  unfolding.  Flowers,  however,  are  still  and 
motionless ;  here  all  is  full  of  life  and  activity.  They 
move  in  slow,  measured  ways,  it  is  true,  but  with  what 
variety  !  Now  the  beautiful  carolla  looks  like  a  half- 
opened  bell,  with  its  delicate  white  leaflets  rising  out  of 
a  deep-red  crown ;  now  again  it  resembles  an  urn  with 
faintly  -  drawn  outlines  of  classic  purity,  *and  then  it 
changes  into  the  shape  of  a  wheel  with  eight  spokes. 


118  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

As  you  are  still  gazing  and  marvelling  at  all  this  exu- 
berance of  colors  and  beautiful  forms,  which  the  bounty 
of  the  Creator  has  bestowed  upon  the  dweller  in  the 
deep,  far  below  the  warm  light  of  the  sun  and  the 
admiring  eye  of  man,  you  touch  the  vessel  that  holds 
these  wonders,  and  in  an  instant  the  scene  is  changed. 
Quicker  than  the  eye  can  follow,  the  fringes  that  adorn 
the  arms  disappear,  the  arms  fold  themselves  up  and 
draw  in  toward  the  centre,  where  the  mouth  was  but  just 
now  standing  open,  ready  to  receive  its  invisible  food, 
the  beautiful  bell  is  shut  up,  and  the  bright-red  lips  close 
once  more,  so  that  there  is  nothing  left  again  but  the 
insignificant  little  branch  of  dingy  color.  They  are  evi- 
dently most  sensitive  little  creatures,  these  strange  little 
animals ;  like  true  children  of  the  dark  deep,  they  can 
bear  neither  heat  nor  light,  nor  the  slightest  touch  of  a 
foreign  body,  and  although  they  close  in  an  instant,  they 
dare  not  unfold  their  beauty  again  for  hours. 

In  spite  of  this  delicate  sensitiveness,  nothing  looks  ap- 
parently more  simple  than  the  structure  of  these  polypi. 
Each  one  is  firmly  seated  in  the  red,  leathery  substance, 
in  which  his  tiny  cell  is  hollowed,  out.  By  means  of  his 
moveable  arms  and  their  cilia,  he  creates  a  little  whirl- 
pool before  his  mouth,  and  seizes  the  infusoria  that  serve 
him  as  food,  together  with  the  particles  of  lime  which  he 
needs  for  his  house.  Whatever  thus  enters  passes  down 
into  the  comtnon  receptacle,  where  it  is  digested  ;  for  the 
coral  polypus  is  not  only  a  sociable  animal,  fond  of  living 


CORALS.  119 

in  large  numbers  together,  but  he  is  a  perfect  socialist 
and  communist.  It  is  only  by  the  common  labor  of 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  these  diminutive  be- 
ings that  the  coral  branch  can  be  formed,  which  is  to 
become  in  the  hands  of  man  a  jewel  of  priceless  value. 
This  result,  moreover,  can  only  be  obtained  by  the  readi- 
ness with  which  each  individual  surrenders  the  fruit  of 
his  labor  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  community.  Each 
polypus,  ever  busy  with  its  eight  agile  arms,  works  night 
and  day,  catching  as  many  tiny  things  as  he  can  seize  in 
the  water.  He  takes  the  first  taste,  as  of  right,  throws 
out  all  that  is  unfit  for  his  purposes,  and  then  sends  the 
surplus  down  into  the  common  stock,  from  whence  it  is 
afterwards  distributed  equally,  through  countless  chan- 
nels, into  every  part  of  the  living  tree.  The  common 
substance,  which  serves  as  highroad  for  what  comes  and 
goes,  and  in  which  dwells,  so  to  say,  the  life  of  the  com- 
munity, is  the  thick,  red  bark  which  covers  the  cells  of 
the  polypi — not  a  skin  to  cover  and  warm  the  little  ani- 
mals, but  the  very  mother  and  nurse  of  the  whole  stock, 
the  bond  that  holds  them  all  together,  and  the  place 
where  the  inner,  solid  kernel  is  made,  which  supports 
the  whole  tree.  Through  a  thousand  little  openings  and 
wide-meshed  net-works  passes  the  nutritious  juice  of 
milky  whiteness,  which  oozes  out  if  the  covering  be  cut, 
and  which  the  fishermen  hence  call  coral-milk.  It  is 
propelled  onward  and  upward  by  microscopic  cilia,  simi- 
lar to  those  in  the  inner  vessels  of  the  human  body. 


120  WONDERS  OF  THE  PEEP. 

Thus  here  also  the  astounding  wisdom  of  God  is  beauti- 
fully displayed,  and  the  almost  unknown  body  of  the 
stone-animal  is  as  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made  as 
that  of  man  himself. 

Far  away  from  the  Mediterranean,  in  the  vast  waters 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  amid  the  South  Sea  Islands,  a 
kindred  race  of  the  true  coral,  the  Madrepores,  have  been 
at  work  for  countless  generations.  They  are  the  humbler 
brethren,  unadorned  with  beauty  and  unable  to  furnish 
man  with  costly  jewels.  But  as  everywhere  in  Nature 
the  humbler  is  the  more  useful,  and  the  smaller  the  more 
powerful,  so  here  also.  These  corals  have  raised,  by  in- 
defatigable labor,  colossal  structures,  by  the  side  of  which 
the  walls  of  ancient  Babylon,  the  Chinese  wall,  and  the 
Pyramids  of  Egypt,  dwindle  into  dwarfish  proportions. 
Amid  the  most  violent  storms,  and  in  the  most  agitated 
seas,  where  wind  and  waves  would  easily  destroy  the 
grandest  works  devised  by  the  skill  of  man,  they  erect 
their  marvellous  edifices — architects  so  feeble  and  insig- 
nificant, that,  when  they  are  drawn  out  of  their  elements, 
they  vanish,  and  can  hardly  be  perceived. 

Their  works  are  works  of  beauty.  Like  enchanted  isl- 
ands, these  circular  coral-reefs  bask  in  the  brightest  light 
of  the  tropics.  A  bright  green  ring  encloses  a  quiet  in- 
land lake ;  the  ground  is  white,  and,  the  water  being 
shallow,  it  shines  brilliantly  in  the  gorgeous  floods  of 
light  that  fall  upon  it,  whilst,  outside,  the  dark  black  bil- 
lows of  the  angry  sea  approach  in  long  lines  of  breakers, 


CORALS.  121 

tossing  their  foaming  white  crests  incessantly  against  the 
impregnable  ramparts.  Above  there  is  a  clear  blue 
heaven,  and,  all  around,  the  dark  ocean  and  the  hazy  air 
blend  harmoniously  into  each  other.  The  contrast  is 
beautiful  beyond  all  similar  scenes :  within  all  is  peace, 
and  soft,  mirror-like  beauty ;  without,  all  is  strife  and 
eternal  warfare.  But  the  battle  is  here  emphatically  not 
to  the  strong.  The  small  and  lowly  polypi,  by  whose 
united  labor  and  strength  these  colossal  walls  have  been 
raised  to  say  to  the  ocean,  "  so  far  and  no  farther  thou 
shalt  go  !  "  defy  the  mighty  waves.  Year  after  year, 
generation  after  generation,  the  tempest  beats  upon  their 
fragile  homes,  and  the  mountain-like  waves  of  the  ocean 
come  thundering  on,  like  armies  of  giants,  to  rush  upon 
the  slender  reef.  But  ever  and  ever  the  attack  is  re- 
pulsed, and  the  minute  animals  work  quietly,  silently, 
with  modest  industry  and  untiring  energy,  at  their 
heaven-appointed  task ;  and  the  living  force,  though  so 
small,  triumphs  victoriously  over  the  blind,  mechanical 
force  of  the  furious  waves. 

Their  great  works  either  stretch  out  far  into  the  ocean 
like  huge  barriers  in  continuation  of  the  natural  coast,  or 
they  form  gigantic  rings  of  rock,  upon  which  plants  soon 
spring  up,  soil  is  formed,  and  at  last  a  habitation  is  pre- 
pared for  man  himself.  The  little  polypi  find  themselves 
there  in  strange  company.  First  there  are  the  only  ene- 
mies which  they  are  as  yet  known  to  have.  Outside  the 

reef,  as  well  as  inside  of  the  lagoon,  but  always  within 
6 


122  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

reach  of  the  coral  rocks,  large  shoals  of  small  fishes  are 
found,  which  actually  feed  upon  the  pulpy,  leathery  sub- 
stance of  the  polypi,  and  secrete  the  indigestible  mate- 
rial it  contains,  thus  producing  a  kind  of  calcareous  pulp 
which  soon  changes  into  fertile  soil  and  serves  as  an  ex- 
cellent ground  for  palm-trees  and  other  plants.  But  as 
the  eater  is  always  eaten  in  all  nature,  so  here  also  the 
avenger  is  at  hand.  Hungry  dogs  are  waiting  patiently 
on  the  reefs  and  shallows,  and  as  soon  as  the  voracious 
fish  rises  to  the  surface,  where  alone  he  finds  the  tender 
polypus,  they  pounce  upon  their  prey  and  swallow  it 
eagerly.  On  shore,  where  the  graceful  palm-trees  flourish, 
a  feast  is  provided  for  another  class  of  hungry  claim- 
ants. With  a  heavy  thump  a  cocoanut  falls  upon  the 
hard  ground,  shaken  down,  before  it  is  perfectly  hard- 
ened, by  a  sudden  gust ;  at  once  land-crabs  are  seen  hur- 
rying up  at  the  sound  of  the  simple  dinner-bell,  and  one 
of  them  seizes  it,  bores  with  its  long,  sharp  claws  into 
one  of  the  eyes,  where  the  shell  is  softest,  and  sucks  with 
delight  the  sweet,  milky  juice.  In  light,  fragile  boats, 
daring  Malays  come  from  far  and  near  and  dive  into  the 
thick  grove  of  coral  trees,  where  they  are  sure  at  all 
seasons  to  find  a  valuable  variety  of  turtle,  which  often 
reaches  the  enormous  weight  of  a  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds.  As  soon  as  they  perceive  one  of  these  mon- 
sters, they  chase  it  and  try  to  drive  it  into  shallow  water, 
or  at  least,  by  constant,  skilful  hunting  to  and  fro,  to 
exhaust  it,  so  that  they  can  approach  quite  near.  As 


COEALS.  f         123 

soon  as  this  has  been  accomplished,  an  active,  agile  man 
jumps  upon  the  back  of  the  turtle,  takes  hold  of  the 
slender  neck,  and,  riding  boldly  on  his  strange  mount, 
profits  by  the  first  firm  footing  he  can  obtain  to  use  it  as 
a  lever  and  to  turn  the  animal  on  its  back,  when  it  falls 
an  easy  prey  to  its  captors. 

Thus  plants  and  animals,  and  man  himself,  all  owe 
their  food  and  their  life  to  the  tiny  coral.  But,  small 
as  it  is,  its  power  of  production  is  so  enormous  that  these 
diminutive  polypi  could  long  since  have  filled  up  the 
basins  of  the  great  ocean,  and  covered  the  continents  of 
the  earth,  if  their  existence  were  not  limited,  by  an  all- 
wise  Providence,  within  certain  local  boundaries  and 
fixed  conditions  of  temperature.  For,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  rare  varieties,  corals  cannot  live  where  they 
are  not  permanently  covered  with  water,  or  at  least  con- 
tinually bathed  by  breakers.  Nor  can  they  exist  below 
a  depth  of  about  two  hundred  feet,  partly  because  the 
enormous  pressure  of  the  weight  of  the  water  above 
them  would  be  fatal  to  all  kind  of  life,  and  partly 
because  they  require  a  higher  temperature  than  that 
which  prevails  at  so  great  a  depth.  The  bright  colors 
in  which  most  of  these  polypi  are  clad  prove,  moreover, 
that  light,  the  gay  painter  of  nature,  is  indispensable  to 
their  existence,  and  this  element  they  can  only  enjoy  in 
the  regions  nearer  the  surface.  But,  above  all,  being 
citizens  of  the  animal  kingdom,  they  need,  like  all  ani- 
mals, oxygen  to  support  their  life,  and  this  food  is  not 


124          f         WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

attainable  where  the  air  cannot  impart  it  to  the  water 
directly  by  contact  with  the  surface,  or  send  it,  by 
the  agitation  of  the  waves,  down  to  a  certain  limited 
depth.  Thus  we  meet  here  also  with  those  great  immu- 
table laws,  by  which  the  Creator  of  all  things  has 
assigned  to  each  one  of  his  creatures  its  abode  upon 
earth,  and  bestowed  upon  it  powers  of  grateful  enjoy- 
ment. Great  and  wonderful  are  His  works,  teaching  us 
everywhere,  on  land  and  at  sea,  on  the  mountain-top  and 
far  down  in  the  depth  of  the  ocean,  not  merely  to  glance 
at  the  surface,  but  to  look  down  into  the  deep,  where 
the  costliest  jewels  are  hid  in  the  dark  abyss  ;  nor  merely 
to  glance  at  the  clouds  and  the  sky,  but  to  lift  up  our 
eyes  to  the  heavens,  where  there  are  wonders  yet  await- 
ing us  that  "  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither 
have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man." 


V. 


THE    KNIGHT   IN   AEMOE. 


'  And,  like  a  lobster  boiled,  the  morn 
From  black  to  red  began  to  turn."— BUTLEB. 


rjlHERE  are  few  subjects  of  deeper  interest  to  us,  and 
*-  few  that  present  greater  difficulties,  than  the  precise 
relation  in  which  man  stands  to  that  creation  which  was 
assigned  him  by  the  Creator  as  his  domain,  and  which 
"  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  "  with  him  in 
a  common  cause  and  a  common  hope  of  redemption. 
When  little  was  known  about  the  lower  creatures,  j  udg- 
ment  was  easy  ;  but  as  information  increased  and  wonder 
after  wonder  was  reported  concerning  the  rare  powers 
and  strange  sagacity  of  many  animals,  increased  interest 
led  to  deeper  research,  and  finally  skill,  instinct,  and  even 
reason,  were  assigned  to  certain  families.  The  most  re- 
cent theory,  the  favorite  of  German  savants,  is  to  divide 
all  created  beings,  endowed  with  animal  life,  into  classes 
independent  of  their  outward  form  and  nature,  according 
to  their  inner,  psychical  life. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  universe  was  created 


126  WONDEKS    OP  THE   DEEP. 

not  for  man  alone,  but  for  that  "  whole  creation  "  with 
which  he  finds  himself  by  divine  will  indissolubly  con- 
nected. But  this  great  world  is  not  equally  open  to  all, 
and  its  unnumbered  inhabitants  are  most  variously  en- 
dowed with  means  of  contact.  Some  have  numerous  or- 
gans by  which  they  place  themselves  in  communication 
with  the  world  around  them ;  others  appear  almost  her- 
mits, unwilling  to  enter  into  relations  with  others.  But 
it  is  evident,  even  to  the  superficial  observer,  that  no  out- 
ward organs  are  ever  given  without  an  inner  sense  to 
render  the  perceptions  of  the  former  useful.  How  the 
connection  is  established  between  the  outer  sense  and  the 
inner  reflex  is  a  mystery  of  mysteries  in  the  most  perfect 
of  beings,  in  man  himself — how  much  more  in  the  animal 
of  whose  soul  we  know  so  little  !  This  secret  belongs  to 
the  things  which  were  too  wonderful  for  the  wisest  of 
wise  men,  to  the  "  way  of  an  eagle  in  the  air,  the  way  of 
a  serpent  upon  a  rock,  the  way  of  a  ship  in  the  midst  of 
the  sea."  It  is  the  secret  which  has  led  the  materialist, 
in  his  despair,  to  deny  the  existence  of  a  soul  altogether, 
which  makes  the  trifler  content  with  the  term  Instinct, 
that  says  nothing,  and  which  leads  the  faithful  believer 
to  the  one  great  source  from  which  alone  come  wisdom 
and  knowledge. 

This  much,  however,  has  been  ascertained,  that  each 
organism  is  fearfully  and  wonderfully  adapted  to  the  life 
of  the  owner,  and  yet  also  in  complete  harmony  with  that 
part  of  the  outer  world  with  which  it  is  placed  in  rapport. 


THE  KNIGHT  IN  ARMOR.  127 

Organism,  soul,  and  world,  constitute  thus  an  indissolu- 
ble trinity,  and  nothing  excites  the  marvel  of  the  student 
of  natural  history  so  much  as  the  infinite  wisdom  dis- 
played in  this  union.  The  smallest  of  infusoria  is,  con- 
sidered in  this  light,  as  perfect  as  the  eagle  that  soars  in 
the  clouds  and  gazes  undazzled  into  the  face  of  the  sun. 
Every  class  is  equally  perfect  in  itself;  no*  instinct  ever 
grows,  no  powers  of  discrimination  are  developed  ;  man, 
animal,  and  plant  are,  as  far  as  their  relations  to  nature 
are  concerned,  made,  once  for  all,  after  a  perfect  pattern. 
Poeta  nascitur^  non  fit,  is  here  as  true  as  in  poetry.  But 
with  every  class  new  powers  are  seen  to  be  given,  new 
bonds  established  between  their  inner  life  and  outer 
nature.  The  worm  in  our  intestines  discerns  nothing  but 
food  or  starvation  ;  the  butterfly  knows  colors,  the  eagle 
distinguishes  men  and  animals,  and  man  himself  knows 
the  past  and  the  future  as  well  as  the  present. 

According  to  this  principle,  the  lowest  animals  are 
those  which  know  least  and  distinguish  least ;  others, 
more  favored,  have  more  numerous  points  of  contact 
With  the  world,  and  the  highest  orders  distinguish,  com- 
paratively speaking,  all  that  surrounds  them.  As  there 
are  even  among  men  whole  classes  who  cannot  hear  cer- 
tain very  high  notes,  or  see  some  of  the  colors  familiar 
to  others ;  as  some  minds  soar  freely  and  intelligently 
into  the  highest  regions  of  thought,  while  others  are 
unable  to  rise  above  the  common  things  of  the  earth,  so 
there  are,  no  doubt,  still  higher  beings  around  us,  who 


128  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

discern  much  that  escapes  our  duller  senses  and  our  in- 
ferior mental  powers.*-. 

But  where  is  the  line  to  be  drawn,  and  what  symptom 
is  to  be  chosen  as  the  standard  by  which  to  measure  the 
rank  of  each  class  of  beings  in  the  great  realm  of  na- 
ture ?  Here  it  has  occurred  to  some  of  our  savants,  that, 
with  all  the  marvellous  diversity  of  form  and  endow- 
ment, no  creature  yet  comes  forth  fully  made  and  de- 
veloped, when  it  first  enters  the  world  of  life.  All,  on 
the  contrary,  must  begin  at  the  lowest  end,  and  painfully, 
slowly,  make  their  way  upward.  Man  himself,  made 
after  the  image  of  the  Most  High,  and  but  a  little  lower 
than  the  angels,  begins  his  career  as  an  almost  invisible 
atom,  a  shapeless  egg.  Nor  is  he  alone  in  this.  Every 
living  being  commences  the  earthly  existence  as  a  germ 
or  an  egg,  and  is  then  asleep  !  Here  was  found  the 
common  feature  of  all  creation — sleep.  Sleep  is  the  first 
condition,  from  which  dates  all  life.  It  is  not  death ; 
for  there  is  in  sleep  already  some  power  of  discernment, 
not  from  reasoning  but  from  sensation.  Men  and  ani- 
mals alike  turn  towards  heat  when  they  feel  cold,  and 
towards  the  cold  air  when  they  are  hot,  although  in  deep 
sleep.  A  person,  fast  asleep,  carries  instinctively,  as  we 
call  it,  the  hand  to  the  point  where  he  is  unduly  touched. 
Others,  suffering  from  thirst,  will  go  to  drink  and  yet 
never  awake  nor  remember  afterwards  what  they  have 
been  doing.  Man,  being  the  highest,  shows  also  in  pro- 
found sleep  the  finest  distinctions.  When  two  persons 


THE  KNIGHT  IN  AEMOB.  129 

suffer  or  do  the  same  thing  in  their  sleep,  they  yet  act 
not  alike  but  show  even  then  the  difference  in  temper 
and  character.  Sleep,  however,  is  almost  passive  and 
the  child  of  darkness.  It  has  nothing  in  common  with 
light,  but  shares  with  its  brother  Death  the  love  of 
night.  There  is  but  a  short  step  from  sleep  to  death — 
do  we  not  all  fall  finally  asleep,  when  we  leave  this 
earth  ?  Hence  sleep  has  no  active  powers ;  vegetation, 
reproduction,  and  nutrition,  alone  continue  as  long  as  it 
holds  the  living  being  captive.  Now  there  is  a  class  of 
animals  who  sleep  during  all  their  life ;  to  awake  is  to 
die  for  them.  These  are  the  lowest  in  the  scale  of  be- 
ings; they  merely  exist,  feed,  and  reproduce  them- 
selves, but  their  soul  is  dormant.  Such  are  intestine 
worms,  beautifully  made  in  their  adaptation  to  their 
peculiar  mode  of  life,  but  doomed  to  live  in  eternal  dark- 
ness and  seclusion.  Bring  them  to  the  light,  let  the  free 
air  of  heaven  blow  upon  them,  and  they  die  at  the  in- 
stant. 

The  dreamer  is  no  longer  fast  asleep.  His  fancy  is  ex- 
cited and  certain  powers  of  his  inner  being  are  actively 
engaged  in  forming  images  of  the  real  world  without. 
But  not  the  imagination  alone  is  at  work;  there  must  be 
more,  since  it  is  possible  to  make  mistakes  in  dreams. 
The  impossible  is  strangely  mixed  up  with  the  possible. 
The  dreaming  hound  runs  madly  after  the  fox  without 
advancing ;  the  horse  becomes  excited  in  dreams,  and 
snorts  as  if  it  sniffed  the  battle  from  afar.  Men  perform 


130  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

mental  feats  in  their  dreams,  of  which  they  would  be  in- 
capable when  awake,  and  even  the  Lord  spake  of  old  in 
dreams  to  his  favored  children  on  earth.  Dreams,  how- 
ever, are  as  yet  nearer  to  sleep  than  to  waking  life  ;  they 
prefer,  if  not  absolute  darkness,  the  more  genial  twi- 
light. They  represent  the  first  budding  forth  of  the  tree 
of  knowledge.  Hence  children  begin  to  dream  in  their 
earliest  infancy — some  say  they  dream  in  their  mother's 
womb.  But  their  activity  is  as  yet  dim  and  instinctive ; 
they  see  the  outer  world  only  as  through  a  bright-colored 
veil,  and  respond  only  faintly  to  impressions  from  with- 
out. As  a  pressure  upon  certain  parts  of  the  body  pro- 
duces invariably  the  same  dream,  so  appeals  to  the  ear 
are  understood  by  the  dreamer ;  he  replies  to  them  or  he 
embodies  them  in  his  dreams.  Hence  his  intelligence  is 
at  work  ;  he  is  by  turns  a  king  and  a  beggar  ;  and  the 
dreaming  animal,  like  the  cat  under  the  influence  of  va- 
lerian, evidently  uses  its  highest  powers.  Here  also  the 
correspondence  with  the  state  in  which  large  classes  of 
animals  perform  all  their  functions  is  striking.  They  live 
in  a  dream,  and  become  only  vaguely  conscious  of  their 

relations  to  the  outer  world. 

• 

Higher  than  the  dreamer  stands  the  somnambulist — 
not  the  man  with  the  diseased  mind  and  disordered  func- 
tions, who  is  exhibited  to  a  gaping  crowd  by  a  charlatan 
— but  the  man  endowed  with  the  mysterious  gift  of  per- 
forming, while  apparently  asleep,  actions  which  require 
the  wisest  judgment  and  the  soundest  reflection.  His 


THE  KXIGHT  IN  AEMOE.  131 

condition  is  no  longer  merely  passive ;  he  becomes  active, 
and  the  outer  world  is  evidently  quite  apparent  to  him, 
though  he  walk  with  closed  eyes.  He  writes  at  his  desk 
and  arranges  his  books,  or  he  milks  his  cows  and  carries 
the  pail  indoors ;  he  walks  on  the  frail  gutter  hanging 
from  the  eaves  of  a  house,  or  along  the  brink  of  a  preci- 
pice, where  no  waking  man  would  dare  to  venture.  There 
are  somnambulists  who  even  speak  through  half-closed 
lips,  and  answer  rationally  to, well-considered  questions. 
The  link,  which  here  connects  the  outer  world  with  the 
inner  consciousness,  is  as  yet  altogether  beyond  the  ken 
of  man,  since  even  the  senses  are  locked  in  apparent 
sleep,  and  yet  impressions  are  made  on  the  mind  and  the 
heart. 

There  is  a  large  class  of  animals,  those  most  intimately 
in  contact  with  men,  who  are  genuine  somnambulists. 
The  bee  builds  her  cell,  the  ant  works  at  her  house,  the 
bird  fashions  his  nest,  by  some  such  power.  It  is  this 
manner  of  life  which,  no  longer  a  sleep  nor  a  dream,  but 
neither  as  yet  a  full  waking  activity,  makes  them  cling 
to  man,  and  attaches  the  horse  and  the  dog  to  their  owner. 
It  is  this  mysterious  power  which  we  most  commonly 
call  instinct,  by  which  the  brute  knows  its  owner, 
discovers  untaught  the  remedies  it  needs,  when  sick,  and 
which  finally  culminates  in  the  second  sight  ascribed  to 
dogs  and  to  horses. 

The  highest  state  of  life  which  we  know  is  the  waking 
life,  in  the  full  blaze  of  noon.  Man  himself,  capable  of 


132  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

becoming  a  Plato  or  a  Newton,  and  striving  to  follow 
the  example  of  Him  who  became  the  Light  of  the  world, 
still  sleeps  and  may  be  a  somnambulist.  But  he  does  so 
only  because  his  body  requires  it,  and  the  inspiration  of 
the  poet,  the  energy  of  the  statesman,  or  even  the  de- 
termined will  of  the  lowest  amongst  us,  gives  us 
strength  to  remain  awake  for  days  and  nights  together. 
Man  alone  forms  this  class  of  created  beings,  and  yet  he 
dreams  of  still  higher  modes  of  life,  given  to  invisible 
fellow-creatures  of  his,  whose  existence  he  merely  pre- 
sumes, but  whose  influence  he  is  willing  to  acknowledge 
under  the  name  of  evil  spirits  or  guardian  angels. 

Whatever  the  merit  of  such  a  division  may  be,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  it  leads  to  a  more  careful  investiga- 
tion of  what  may  not  inaptly  be  called  the  inner  life  of 
animals,  and  as  we  have  seen  that  this  is  invariably  rep- 
resented outwardly  by  corresponding  organs,  it  lends  a 
new  interest  to  the  study  of  certain  individual  characters 
among  the  different  classes.  As  we  have  on  a  previous 
occasion  endeavored  to  sketch  the  life  of  one  of  the  best- 
endowed  of  higher  animals,  we  propose  here  to  give  an 
outline  of  one  of  the  lowest,  in  whose  remarkable  form 
and  strange  character  we  yet  find  new  evidence  of  the 
Supreme  wisdom  that  made  him  also  useful  to  others  and 
endowed  him  with  sources  of  happiness  and  simple 
enjoyment. 

He    dwells    far  down   in  dun  twilight,    among    sor- 
rowful brethren,  whose  homes  are  the  dark  earth  and  the 


THE  KNIGHT  IN  ARMOE.  133 

great  deep.  There  is  no  beauty  of  color  in  the  dismal 
waters  in  which  he  spends  his  checkered  life  ;  there  is  no 
comeliness  of  shape  to  be  seen  in  his  friends  and  neigh- 
bors. The  bright  light  of  heaven  never  penetrates  to 
the  dark  caves  in  which  he  makes  himself  a  rude  home 
after  his  own  fashion,  and  weird,  wayward  life  surrounds 
him  on  all  sides.  The  diver  comes  back  to  the  welcome 
day  above,  his  heart  beating  high  with  fearful  excitement 
and  his  fancy  filled  to  overflowing  with  quaintest  shapes 
and  hideous  horrors.  Misshapen  lumps  of  quivering 
flesh,  bloated  bladders  shining  in  sickly  colors,  oddly 
twisted  ribbons,  with  gloating  eyes  where  you  least 
expect  them,  roll  blindly  and  limbless  through  the  murky 
waters.  Sharp  pricks  threaten  on  all  sides,  long  slimy 
threads  slowly  and  silently  wrap  themselves  around  the 

intruder,  and  fearful  arms  of  great  length,  and  set  with 

£fr 
long  rows  of  suckers,  stretch  eagerly  out  to  catch  the 

welcome  prey.  Here  glassy,  colorless  eyes  stare  with 
dull  imbecile  light,  there  deep  blue  or  black  eyes  glare 
with  almost  human  sense  and  unmistakable  cunning. 
And  all  this  world  of  beings  is  incessantly  at  strife ; 
through  every  submarine  bush  and  thicket  glide  hosts 
of  fierce,  gluttonous  robbers.  For  the  calm  of  the  sea  is 
a  treacherous  rest,  and  under  the  deceitful  mirror-like 
peace  reigns  eternal  warfare.  Infinite,  unquenchable 
hatred  seems  to  dwell  in  the  cold,  unfeeling  deep,  amid 
the  "things,  innumerable,  both  great  and  small,  that 
are  there." 


134:  WONDERS    OF  THE   DEEP. 

It  must  needs  be  a  comfort,  therefore,  to  many  denizens 
of  the  great  deep,  to  be  well  protected  against  the  rest- 
less spirit  of  destruction.  Happy  are  the  tiny  sea-snails, 
and  the  countless  mussels,  who  dwell  in  safe  houses  of 
marvellous  beauty,  presenting  to  the  astonished  eye  such 
a  variety  of  turrets  and  cottages,  of  staircases  and  wind- 
ing passages,  of  pinnacles  and  buttresses,  as  were  never 
dreamt  of  by  human  architect.  There  is  an  endless  va- 
riety of  stony  flowers,  now  waving  to  and  fro  amid  the 
silent  currents  of  the  ocean,  now  rigid  and  firm  forever, 
when  left  by  the  short-lived  owner.  But  all  these  present 
but  the  gorgeous  mosaic  of  the  great  sub-marine  palace ; 
the  animal  within  has  little  to  attract  us,  and  when  we 
draw  them  up  from  their  dark  homes  below,  it  is  the 
house  only  we  value  and  not  the  tenant. 

Far  different  is  the  case  with  the  knight  in  armor,  who 
leads  a  fbrange  life,  not  without  humor,  in  their  midst, 
and  blushing  bright  red  for  his  disgrace  adorns  our  table. 
His  undersized  cousin,  a  mere  landlubber,  is  the  familiar 
crawfish,  who  dwells  in  deep  miniature  caves,  next-door 
neighbor  of  the  bald-tailed  water  rat,  beneath  the  over- 
hanging network  of  willow  roots  and  elder  bushes  on 
the  banks  of  little  streams  and  brooks.  He  also  is  always 
armed  cap-a-pie ;  his  helmet  and  cuirass  in  one  piece,  but 
the  heavy  armor  below  skilfully  jointed  together  and 
ending  in  a  graceful  fin-like  rudder.  The  heavy  burden 
is  borne  by  numerous  pairs  of  stout  feet,  a  very  host  of 
legionaries  painfully  pushing  forward  the  weighty  ma- 


THE  KNIGHT  IN  ARMOR.  135 

chine  that  rests  on  their  broad  shoulders.  Before  him 
he  bears  on  high  a  sharp  pair  of  shears ;  the  first  foot  has 
been  changed  into  a  hand,  consisting  only  of  a  first  finger 
and  thumb,  but  clever  beyond  expectation  in  seizing  and 
holding  whatever  it  may  desire.  By  the  side  of  the  bold 
prick  which  adorns  his  nose,  as  knightly  horses  wore  of 
old  a  steel  point  above  the  nostrils,  rise  the  two  long, 
lithe  feelers,  and  upon  two  delicate  pillars  appear  the 
bright,  black  balls  of  his  eyes,  twinkling  and  twisting 
with  ludicrous  energy  towards  all  sides.  Far  down  in 
his  innermost  recesses  he  hides  a  precious  stone,  the  pre- 
cious gift  of  ^Esculapius,  resembling,  with  the  aid  of  a 
lively  imagination,  a  human  eye,  and  endowed  with  magic 
powers.  The  common  people,  especially  the  lower  Rus- 
sians, still  use  these  so-called  stones  for  many  medicinal 
purposes,  and  gather  thousands  of  poor  crawfish  on  the 
banks  of  the  Volga,  to  die  a  miserable,  slow  death  in  the 
burning  sun,  merely  to  extract  from  them  the  highly 
prized  "  white  eyes." 

Thus  strangely  accoutred  and  formidably  armed,  the 
hermit  broods  all  day  long  in  his  dark  home,  a  dreamer 
in  every  sense  of  the  word,  and  a  child  of  dim  twilight ; 
for  when  night  begins  to  lay  her  dark  mantle  upon  the 
earth,  he  sallies  forth,  and,  in  spite  of  his  weighty  armor 
and  his  ungainly  shape,  he  swims  about  swiftly  and 
catches  many  a  frog  or  sleeping  fish.  Even  the  water- 
snail,  in  its  firm,  well-secured  house,  falls  an  easy  prey 
to  the  great  warrior.  But,  alas  !  he  prefers  the  dead 


136  WONDEKS    OF  THE   DEEP. 

body  of  an  animal  to  all  other  dainties,  and  where  a 
poor  pike  has  died  a  natural  death,  or  a  trout  has  been 
left  wounded  sorely  by  a  heron,  a  whole  host  of  craw- 
fisk  are  soon  seen  to  revel  in  the  feast.  Nor  do  they 
spare  one  another,  and  like  many  a  savage  tribe  of 
Africa  they  also  relieve  the  sick  and  the  aged  of  their 
race  from  the  troubles  of  life  by  despatching  them 
speedily. 

Little  valued  in  this  country,  the  crawfish  is  looked 
upon  as  a  dainty  dish  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and 
hundreds  are  caught  during  the  bonny  month  of  May, 
on  every  creek  and  every  river.  But  it  is  not  easy  to 
take  hold  of  him ;  he  slips  treacherously  between  your 
fingers,  and  if  you  seize  him  by  one  of  the  claws,  he 
gives  it  up  heroically,  like  another  Scsevola,  and  flees 
backward  into  his  home.  The  unwieldy  body  seems  all 
of  a  sudden  endowed  with  marvellous  agility  ;  he  bends 
the  broad  tail  like  a  well-tempered  spring  under  the 
body,  and  beats  with  it  the  water  so  powerfully  that  he 
darts  through  it  like  an  arrow.  His  ear  is  prominent 
and  powerful.  The  crawfish  is  the  lowest  animal  en- 
dowed with  a  distinct  organ  of  hearing,  and  careful 
observers  insist  upon  it  that  he  is  a  lover  of  music. 
More  certain  is  his  love  of  light,  for  he  is  generally 
caught  at  night  by  means  of  a  burning  torch ;  and  still 
more  susceptibility  does  he»show  for  the  electric  powers 
of  nature,  for  when  a  thunder-storm  breaks  out,  he  rushes 
forth  from  his  safe  retreat  and  rages  wildly  about,  as  if 


THE  KNIGHT  IN  AEMOK.  137 

he  feared  the  end  of  the  world,  and  vainly  sought  for  a 
place  of  refuge. 

But  what  is  this  pigmy  after  all  to  the  giant  cousin  in 
distant  ocean  ?  The  lobster  is  a  true  knight  in  armor, 
fully  equipped  and  of  colossal  proportions.  Some  have 
been  found  nearly  a  yard  long,  true  mammoths  of  long 
gone-by  days,  with  enormous  rods  for  feelers,  and  feet 
covered  with  knotted  hair,  while  on  their  broad  back  a 
close  carpet  of  mosses  and  mushrooms  had  clad  the  an- 
cient ruin,  and  snails  had  found  a  safe  home ! 

His  armor  shines  like  blue  steel,  unless  he  should  have 
found  a  home  on  rocks  strongly  empregnated  with  cop- 
per, when  his  new  coat  assumes  the  livery  of  the  sea  and 
changes  to  green.  It  is  one  of  the  mysteries  connected 
with  this  strange  animal,  that  he  turns  bright  red  when 
boiled;  for  no  satisfactory  explanation  has  yet  been 
found  of  the  change,  and  it  is  not  even  known  whether 
the  new  color  is  the  result  of  a  mechanical*  or  a  chemical 
process.  Painters  love  him,  therefore,  and  there  are  few 
still-life  pictures  of  the  Dutch  school  that  have  not  a  lob- 
ster in  the  fore-ground,  now  blue  amid  bright-colored 
flowers  and  vegetables  in  the  centre  of  a  market,  and 
now  brilliant  red  by  the  side  of  a  sparkling  glass  of  wine, 
and  crowned  with  finely  contrasting  parsley. 

His  home  lies  far  down  at  great  depth  in  the  briny 
waters  near  rocky  coasts,  from  which  he  rises  only 
occasionally  to  lay  his  eggs  and  provide  for  his  posterity ; 
for  the  Crustacea  have,  almost  all,  curious  fancies  about 


138  WOXDEES    OF   THE   DEEP. 

that  time;  the  nautilographus  fastens  himself  to  the 
back  of  a  sea-turtle  and  travels  on  this  safe  conveyance 
through  the  wide  world,  while  another  crab  sets  forth 
alone  and  often  wanders  over  enormous  distances.  It 
may  be  remembered  that  one  of  these  eccentric  creatures 
was  picked  up  by  Columbus  in  the  open  sea,  when  he 
was  yet  eighteen  miles  from  land,  and  gave  new  courage 
to  his  despairing  crew,  as  they  saw  in  the  encounter  a 
sign  that  the  new  continent  was  within  reach.  So  true 
is  it  that  the  smallest  of  beings  in  His  hand  may  gain 
an  unforeseen  influence  on  the  gravest  events  that  regu- 
late the  welfare  of  mankind.  He  produces  eggs,  the  so- 
called  berries  which  enrich  our  lobster  salad,  and  carries 
them  for  awhile  attached  to  finger-like  projections  on  the 
lower  surface  of  his  tail.  These  receptacles,  in  the  male 
animal  but  short  and  imperfectly  developed,  are  in  the 
female  quite  large  and  full  of  clusters  of  eggs  during  the 
season.  Hence  the  fishermen  know  at  a  glance  the  sex 
of  their  prey,  and  value  their  capture  accordingly.  But 
the  lobster  represents  in  the  sea  the  marsupial  tribes  of 
the  land,  and  as  the  kangaroo  carries  her  newly-born 
young  in  her  pouch,  the  lobster  also  keeps  the  tender  off- 
spring for  a  while  under  the  secure  shelter  of  the  broad 
rudder-like  tail.  The  eggs  are  amazing  by  their  number, 
for  not  less  than  twelve  thousand  have  been  counted  in 
a  single  female,  and  yet  the  enemies  are  so  numerous  and 
so  voracious  that  without  this  gift  of  parental  affection 
bestowed  even  upon  a  creature  so  low  in  the  scale  of 


THE  KNIGHT  IN  AEMOE.  139 

beings,  the  race  would  have  long  since  become  extinct. 
They  love  their  young  very  manifestly ;  for  the  younger 
Buckland  tells  us,  in  his  Curiosities,  that  fishermen  of 
Cornwall  frequently  see  lobsters  surrounded  by  their 
young,  even  when  already  over  six  inches  in  length.  Or 
the  mother  would  be  noticed  lying  with  her  head  peep- 
ing from  under  a  rock,  with  her  large  claws  extended, 
while  the  young  ones  were  playing  merrily  between 
them ;  when  danger  approached,  the  old  one  would  rat- 
tle her  claws  and  the  young  ones  at  once  seek  shelter  un- 
der the  rock. 

The  numerous  legs  are  but  feeble  and  barely  able  to 
drag  the  heavy  armor  slowly  over  the  ground,  but  far 
down  in  his  own  element,  the  lobster  glides  rapidly  over 
the  rocks  and  reefs.  His  many-linked  tail,  well-jointed 
and  yet  extremely  pliant  and  agile,  possesses  great  power, 
and  with  a  single  blow  a  full-grown  lobster  will  dart  to  a 
distance  of  fifty  feet  and  instantly  escape  pursuit.  To 
aid  him  in  his  movements,  he  is  endowed  with  a  marvel- 
lous instinct,  which  enables  him,  though  moving  back- 
ward, always  to  hit  exactly  the  entrance  to  his  little 
cave,  distant  as  it  may  be,  and  barely  large  enough  to 
admit  his  body. 

The  lobster,  however,  is  not  only  larger  and  stronger 
than  his  cousin  on  shore,  but  he  shows  also  superior  fac- 
ulties. Far  from  all  tendency  to  cannibalism,  he  lives  in 
friendly  union  with  his  brethren,  and  often  joins  a  merry 
company  on  a  common  excursion  to  distant  seas.  When 


140  WONDERS  OF  THE -DEEP. 

in  his  warfare  strength  does  not  avail  him,  he  resorts  to 
stratagems  and  shows  great  cunning.  Thus  he  never 
despairs  of  conquering  the  stubborn  resistance  of  shell- 
fish ;  patiently  he  lies  in  wait  for  hours  and  hours,  until 
the  poor  animal,  lured  into  security,  timidly  opens  the 
shell.  Quick  as  lightning,  he  shoots  up  and  places  a  tiny 
pebble  between  the  two  valves,  and  the  oyster  surren- 
ders. Nor  is  he  less  susceptible  to  electricity ;  for  the 
thunder  of  the  clouds  or  the  roar  of  cannon  affects  him 
in  his  remotest  caverns,  so  that  he  wildly  rushes  out  and 
in  his  terrible  fright  casts  off  his  claws.  Freebooters  are 
reported  to  have  taken  advantage  of  this  idiosyncrasy, 
to  threaten  poor  Norwegian  fishermen  with  the  firing  of 
their  guns,  if  they  were  not  willing  to  share  with  them 
their  loads  of  lobsters. 

Their  claws  are  the  result  of  a  most  ingenious  and  yet 
marvellously  simple  device  of  nature.  The  first  foot  is 
inserted  sideways  in  the  second,  and  thus  forms  a  kind 
of  shears  ;  the  changed  foot  becomes,  of  course,  unfit  for 
locomotion,  but  in  return  extremely  useful  in  seizing  the 
prey,  in  resisting  an  attack,  and  overcoming  an  enemy. 
With  them  the  common  lobster  also  carries  food  to  its 
mouth,  and  skilfully  skims  the  water  to  catch  all  par- 
ticles of  food  that  may  float  on  the  surface.  These 
claws,  as  well  as  the  feet,  can  be  thrown  away  under  the 
influence  of  fright,  or  be  lost  in  the  heat  of  the  com- 
bat, without  causing  pain  or  special  discomfort.  The 
mutilated  animal  runs  away  on  the  remaining  legs  as 


THE  KNIGHT  IN  ARMOR.  141 

if  nothing  had  happened,  and  soon  sees  a  new  limb 
replace  the  lost  one ;  nor  does  the  cast-off  claw  seem  to 
be  much  missed  until  a  substitute  has  grown  out  again. 
The  latter,  however,  is  never  the  same  size  as  the  old 
one,  and  hence  lobsters  are  so  frequently  found  with  one 
claw  much  larger  than  the  other.  Here,  also,  we  cannot 
help  admiring  the  benevolent  wisdom  which  has  endowed 
animals  so  constantly  in  danger  of  having  their  limbs 
snapped  off  by  countless  enemies,  and  yet  so  entirely 
dependent  on  them,  with  the  power  of  reproduction. 
The  time  for  the  latter  is  not  always  the  same ;  it 
depends  much  on  the  warmth  of  the  season  and  the  sup- 
ply of  food,  as  well  as  on  the  part  which  has  been  lost ; 
the  tail  is  never  replaced,  and  the  animal  that  has  lost  it 
dies  without  fail. 

But  by  far  the  most  interesting  feature  in  the  life  of 
the  lobster  is  the  change  of  his  armor.  This  coat  of  mail 
is  of  one  piece,  and  consequently  incapable  'of  extension 
or  alteration ;  hence  the  lobster,  having  once  grown  up 
to  the  size  of  his  house,  could  never  hope  to  grow 
beyond  the  tight  uncomfortable  garment  of  his  youth, 
if  an  all-wise  Providence  had  not  provided  a  way,  by 
which  he  may  change  his  armor  at  least  once  a  year.  At 
the  proper  season,  generally  toward  the  end  of  spring, 
when  food  is  plentiful,  the  knight  begins  to  feel  ill  at  ease 
in  his  close  armor,  and  seeks  some  dark  cleft  in  the 
rocks,  or  other  dark  place  of  retreat,  where  he  may 
undergo,  in  seclusion  and  security,  a  change  that  exposes 


WONDERS  OF  THE-  DEEP. 

him  to  great  suffering  in  body,  and  much  danger  from 
abroad.  Here  he  begins  to  agitate  his  limbs,  to  move  in 
violent  contortions,  and  to  swell  out  his  body.  After  a 
little  while  the  shell  bursts,  like  the  cracked  bark  of  a 
tree,  splitting  exactly  down  the  centre  of  the  head  por- 
tion, so  that  a  slight  pull  would  tear  the  two  parts  asun- 
der. The  shell  then  comes  off  in  two  halves,  exactly  as 
the  cuirass  of  a  modern  cuirassier  or  a  Horse  Guard's 
man  ;  then  follows  more  pulling  and  jerking  till  the  legs 
also  come  out,  and  at  last  the  tail  even  follows  the  exam- 
ple, and  slips  out  quietly,  like  a  hand  withdrawn  from  a 
glove.  But  the  process  is  not  so  easy  with  the  claws, 
broad  as  they  are  at  the  end,  and  very  narrow  at  the 
points  of  juncture.  Fortunately  the  flesh  of  the  animal 
has  become,  at  this  season,  quite  soft,  and  as  elastic  as 
India-rubber ;  by  long  continued  efforts  the  broad  hand 
is  drawn  slowly  through  the  narrow  wristband  and  soon 
spreads  out  again  into  its  former  shape.  Sometimes,  to 
be  sure,  an  impatient  creature  pulls  too  suddenly,  or  too 
violently,  and  the  hand  remains  in  the  glove,  but  they 
seem  to  mind  the  loss  but  little.  When  the  whole  ope- 
ration is  over,  which  generally  takes  three  days,  the 
knight  sinks  into  a  state  of  utter  exhaustion ;  the  limbs 
are  so  soft  and  limber  that  they  bend  like  pieces  of  wet 
paper,  and  only  on  the  back  the  flesh  has  retained  some 
firmness.  Yet  not  a  particle  is  wanting;  every  delicate 
feeler  has  shed  its  outer  coating ;  the  eye  has  lost  its 
covering,  and  even  the  stomach  has  cast  out  its  lining 


THE  KNIGHT  IN  ARMOR. 

membrane.  A  shining  secretion  moistens  the  whole 
body  and  helps  during  the  painful  process. 

Now  the  poor  animal  wants  rest,  and  above  all,  a 
place  of  perfect  security;  for  he  is  a  knight  in  armor 
no  longer,  but  utterly  helpless  and  defenceless.  After  a 
few  days,  however,  the  outer  covering  begins  to  harden, 
and  in  a  short  time  the  happy  lobster,  about  one-fifth  of 
his  size  larger  than  before,  enjoys  the  bliss  of  being 
young  and  beautiful  once  more,  and  feels,  in  his  bright 
and  strong  armor,  no  doubt,  as  happy  as  a  lobster  well 
can  feel.  What  would  man  not  give  for  this  most  envia- 
ble power  to  renew  the  outer  coat  from  time  to  time,  and 
even  to  restore  the  stomach  to  primitive  power  and 
freshness ! 

Now  he  sallies  forth,  once  more,  armed  cap-a-pie,  and 
ready  to  encounter  all  adversaries  and  to  overcome  all 
enemies.  He  is  starved,  and  fearful  is  the  havoc  which 
he  makes  among  small  fry,  and  all  weaker  animals  that 
can  serve  him  for  food.  Now  also  he  shows  the  most 
marked  evidences  of  the  acute  sense  of  smell  with  which 
he  has  been  endowed.  Nine  miles  out  at  sea,  says  Buck- 
land,  off  Lyme-Regis,  in  Dorsetshire,  there  is  a  ledge  of 
chalk  rocks  which  abounds  in  lobsters,  and  here  this  re- 
markable instinct  has  been  most  accurately  observed. 
They  will  smell  a  putrid  object,  down  in  the  water,  at  a 
distance  of  more  than  a  hundred  yards,  and  when  a  ship- 
wreck occurs,  it  becomes  at  once  known  to  the  horrid 
epicures.  A  vessel  thus  once  perished  off  the  island  of 


144  WONDERS  or  THE, DEEP. 

Portland  and  many  persons  were  drowned  ;  soon  after- 
wards a  great  number  of  prawns  and  lobsters  were  noticed 
in  those  waters,  and  hundreds  of  the  latter  were  caught. 
The  good  people  of  Weymouth  refused  to  buy  them,  as 
they  were  suspected,  and  very  justly,  to  have  fed  on  the 
bodies  of  the  drowned  people,  but  they  did  not  hesitate 
to  send  every  one  of  them  to  London,  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  knew  nothing  of  their  sad  history ! 


VL 
A  PINCH  OF  SALT. 

"  Salt  is  good."— ST.  MABK  ix.  50. 

fT^HE  servant  of  the  great  chemist,  Berzelius,  was  once 
JL  approached  by  one  of  his  countrymen  with  the 
question,  "  What  is  that  chemistry  by  which  they  say 
your  master  has  made  himself  so  famous ? "  "I  will  tell 
you,"  was  the  ready  answer.  "  First,  I  have  to  fetch  all 
manner  of  things  in  large  vessels ;  then  he  pours  them 
into  bottles,  and  at  last  into  quite  small  phials  ;  when  he 
has  done  that,  he  pours  them  all  once  more  into  two  big 
buckets,  which  I  carry  out  and  empty  into  the  river. 
That  is  chemistry." 

The  popular  idea  of  the  science  is  not  much  clearer  in 
our  day.  The  name  conjures  up,  in  many  minds,  a  large 
laboratory,  with  quaint  retorts  and  vile  smells,  or  at  best 
a  huge  factory,  sending  forth  clouds  of  disgusting  smoke. 
In  many  a  lively  imagination  the  chemist  is  still  sur- 
rounded by  stuffed  monsters  and  bottled  infants,  after  the 
manner  of  Hogarth's  admirable  etching,  and  his  labors 

are  looked   upon  with   timid   admiration  and  doubtful 

7 


14:6  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

wonder;  for  the  alchemist  has  not  yet  entirely  faded 
away  into  a  myth,  and  the  Black  Art  has  still  his  vota- 
ries in  our  midst.  Few  among  us  are  really  aware  how 
deeply  and  practically  the  chemist's  science  affects  our 
daily  life  and  contributes  to  our  happiness  upon  earth. 

And  yet  he  has  a  duty  to  perform  which  ranks  but  lit- 
tle below  the  very  highest  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  man 
here  below.  He  is  the  self-appointed  guardian  of  the  in- 
destructible part  of  our  globe.  Man  glories  in  his  abso- 
lute sway  over  all  Nature,  whose  gifts  he  employs  for  his 
pleasure,  and  whose  creatures  he  treats  as  his  vassals. 
But  his  dominion  is  of  short  duration,  and  soon  Nature 
resumes  her  own  sway  again,  unimpeded  by  his  hand. 
He  wrests  massive  rocks  from  her  bosom,  and  tears  gi- 
gantic trees  from  their  ancient  homes,  and  changes  them 
into  houses  and  palaces  and  ships ;  he  digs  into  the  bow- 
els of  the  earth,  and  fashions  the  hidden  treasures  into 
bright  ornaments  and  useful  tools,  or  he  transforms  even 
the  worthless  sand  and  the  shapeless  clay  into  costly 
wares  of  brilliant  splendor.  But  a  few  years  pass  away, 
and  his  beautiful  handiwork  changes  in  shape  and  in 
color ;  a  century  more,  and  they  crumble  into  dust.  His 
magnificent  temples,  his  lofty  walls,  his  graceful  bridges, 
his  proud  monuments  that  were  to  give  immortality  to 
his  name  and  his  deeds — they  all  succumb,  sooner  or 
later,  to  the  silent  but  unfailing  efforts  of  Nature  to  re- 
claim her  own  children.  What  the  waters  of  the  ocean 
and  the  winds  of  heaven  have  left  undestroyed,  falls  un- 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  147 

der  the  unseen  attacks  of  frost  and  rain  and  heat.  As 
worms  feed  under  the  green  turf  on  his  body,  fearfully 
and  wonderfully  made  though  it  was,  so  tiny  lichens  and 
minute  mosses  consume,  little  by  little,  his  obelisks  and 
his  pyramids.  Diminutive  seeds,  flying  unseen  through 
the  air,  come  and  nestle  in  the  cracks  and  crevices  of  his 
castles  and  palaces,  and  strike  their  frail  roots  in  the  rents 
of  his  massive  walls,  while  treacherous  ivy  sends  his  ten- 
drils into  every  cleft  of  the  ruin.  Insects,  creeping  about 
by  night,  undermine  the  foundations  of  colossal  struc- 
tures, and  animal  life  teems  ere  long  among  the  debris 
of  his  loftiest  edifices.  The  trees  he  has  planted  and  the 
animals  he  has  raised,  return  to  the  dust  from  whence 
they  sprang ;  the  wood  he  has  carved  with  cunning  craft, 
decays  into  impalpable  powder ;  the  metals  he  has 
wrought  into  shapes  of  wondrous  beauty,  are  eaten  up 
by  rust ;  and  the  very  stones  he  has  piled  up  in  lofty 
structures,  are  consumed  by  wind  and  weather. 

And  whither  go  all  these  fading,  fleeting  elements, 
which  thus  continually  pass  from  his  sight,  and  return, 
as  he  calls  it,  to  the  bosom  of  their  mother  Nature? 
The  chemist  alone  can  answer  the  question ;  for  he 
alone  watches  them  forever,  and  never  for  a  moment  fails 
to  trace  them  to  their  new  home,  though  they  assume, 
with  Protean  power,  a  thousand  new  forms,  and  defy  him, 
for  a  time,  by  their  incessant  and  marvellous  changes. 

But  his  power  is  greater  yet.  For  this  knowledge  of 
the  eternal  duration  of  the  elements  in  nature  endows 


148  WONDERS  OF  THE  DJEEP. 

him  with  a  power  that  might  almost  be  called  creative  ; 
for  though  he  may  not  absolutely  produce  them  out  of 
naught,  like  the  one  great  Creator  above  us,  he  can  at 
least  make  them  assume  the  form  which  he  wishes.  He 
can  take  the  dust,  that  seems  worthless,  and  endow  it 
with  priceless  value  ;  he  can  gather  impalpable  powder 
and  hardly  perceptible  vapor,  and  bid  them  combine  in 
a  form  that  shall  rejoice  our  eye  by  its  beauty,  and 
prove  itself  a  blessing  like  few  others  to  all  mankind. 
One  of  the  most  striking  instances  of  this  power  is  the 
manner  in  which  his  science  transforms  an  unsightly 
gift  of  nature  into  the  most  precious  boon  that  man  re- 
ceives at  her  hands — a  little  gray  substance  into  a  price- 
less crystal,  far  more  valuable  than  all  the  most  costly 
jewels  he  possesses,  and  indispensable  to  his  very  exist- 
ence upon  earth. 

This  precious  treasure  is  a  little  square-fashioned 
grain,  of  gray  color,  born  far  down  in  the  darkest  re- 
cesses -of  the  earth,  in  times  when  fierce  fires  raged 
below;  and  there  it  has  lain  for  thousands  of  years,  along 
with  countless  little  grains  of  like  shape,  never  seeing  a 
beautiful  flower  by  its  side  or  hearing  the  sweet  notes 
of  a  bird  as  it  sings  of  spring  and  budding  love.  Its 
ancestors  were  two  strange  beings,  that  have  but  quite 
lately  become  known  to  us  :  a  metal  with  a  silver  sheen 
and  a  gas  of  yellowish-green  color.  The  former  is  per- 
haps the  oddest  of  its  kind.  Other  metals  are  heavy 
and  hard ;  this  is  so  light  that  it  swims  on  the  water, 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  149 

and  so  soft  that  it  can  be  cut  with  a  knife  and  kneaded 
with  the  hand.  Other  metals  resist  all  impressions  from 
without ;  this  is  so  yielding  that  if  exposed  for  a  little 
while  to  damp  air,  it  oxydizes  quickly  and  changes  into 
a  white  powder  !  While  its  near  cousins,  gold  and  silver, 
sink  quickly  to  the  bottom  of  a  vessel  filled  with  water, 
Sodium,  on  the  contrary,  floats  like  a  very  gnome  of  the 
mountains ;  and  the  little  silvery  globes,  in  which  it  is 
ordinarily  seen,  swim  merrily  for  a  while  on  the  surface. 
But  after  a  few  moments,  they  begin  to  glow  and  to 
shine  like  liquid  fire,  and  now  perform  a  dance  so  weird 
and  wild  that  it  startles  us  by  its  strange,  fantastic 
figures.  The  smooth  surface  of  the  water  becomes  the 
well-polished  floor  of  a  ball-room,  on  which  the  bright 
pearls  of  shining  metal  perform  their  quaint  dance  like 
enchanted  princesses  dressed  in  silver  robes.  If  you  at- 
tempt to  hold  the  lovely  little  dames  by  force,  they 
know  at  once  how  to  escape  from  your  violence  and  to 
regain  their  liberty.  A  beautiful  bluish  flame  begins  to 
surround  the  little  globules,  and  a  few  moments  after 
the  metal  has  vanished.  No  trace  is  left,  and  only  the 
peculiar  smell  of  the  water  betrays  their  secret :  they 
have  sought  refuge  in  the  friendly  element,  and  water, 
the  stanch  enemy  of  fire  from  of  old  and  ever  ready  to 
conquer  it  by  its  own  power,  has  been  forced  by  the 
little  magicians  to  burn,  for  a  little  while,  in  a  bright, 
flickering  flame,  before  it  could  afford  them  a  new  home 
and  a  safe  shelter. 


150  W<XNDERS    OF   THE    I>EEP. 

Nor  is  the  other  ancestor  of  the  tiny  grain  less  odd  in 
its  nature.  While  every  other  substance  on  earth  has 
some  shape  and  form  of  its  own,  by  which  it  may  be 
known,  and  even  water,  though  ever  changing  and  rest- 
less, never  fails  to  fashion  itself  in  lovely  globules,  Chlo- 
rine has  no  form  or  substance  of  its  own.  Like  a  prince 
of  the  air,  it  passes  unheeded  through  the  atmosphere, 
visible  only  as  a  faint,  yellowish-green  vapor.  You  catch 
it  and  imprison  it  in  a  glass,  you  compress  it  by  all  the 
means  at  your  disposal  with  terrible  force,  and  at  last  it 
comes  down  reluctantly,  in  the  shape  of  a  bubbling  liquid. 
But  relieve  it  for  a  moment  of  the  enormous  pressure,  and 
it  rises  instantly  again  as  a  vapor,  and  escapes  from  your 
grasp.  Unfit  to  be  breathed  by  man  or  beast,  whom  it 
would  smother  in  a  few  moments,  it  yet  is  not  merely  fa- 
tal to  life,  but  has  its  good  »use  in  the  wonderful  house- 
hold of  nature,  where  every  atom  finds  its  noble  vocation, 
and  serves  its  great  though  often  unseen  purpose  to  the 
glory  of  the  Most  High.  Chlorine  has  been  endowed 
with  a  truly  wonderful  power  of  combining  with  all  other 
elements  without  exception,  and  hence  becomes  of  vast 
importance  to  the  chemist  and  the  manufacturer.  But 
it  serves  us  must  faithfully  where  danger  threatens  us 
most  nearly,  and  carries  off,  with  unfailing  fidelity,  the 
death-bringing  gases  of  wells  and  neglected  cellars,  and 
purifies  our  sick-rooms  and  hospitals. 

These  two  strange  beings,  the  flitting  gas  with  its  re- 
pulsive color  and  fatal  breath,  and  the  quaint  metal  whose 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  151 

merry  dance  forces  water  to  turn  into  fire,  seek  each  other, 
throughout  nature,  with  unceasing  longing.  And  yet, 
whenever  they  meet,  they  embrace  each  other  only  for  a 
moment,  and  for  their  own  destruction.  The  bright  sil- 
very substance  has  no  sooner  been  breathed  upon  by  the 
foul  gas,  than  it  vanishes  as  if  by  magic,  and  all  that  re- 
mains of  the  two  is  a  tiny  crystal  of  white  color  and  sil- 
very sheen.  You  examine  it  closely,  and  you  find  that 
it  resembles  a  hollow  cube  ;  every  minute  particle  of  the 
grain  is  clear  and  transparent,  like  the  most  perfect  of 
crystals,  and  it  is  only  when  many  are  lying  close  fo  each 
other  that  the  broken  rays  of  light  give  them  a  pure, 
white  hue.  The  poisonous  powder  of  chlorine  and  the 
fiery  nature  of  sodium  have  utterly  disappeared,  and  in 
their  stead  man  is  presented  by  his  beneficent  mother 
Nature  with  a  little  grain  of  salt,  without  which  his  life 
would  be  a  burden,  and  happiness  upon  earth  forever  out 
of  question  ! 

Fortunately,  Nature  is  as  bountiful  as  she  is  wise,  and 
hence  the  indispensable  grain  of  salt  is  provided  by  her 
with  such  a  lavish  hand,  that  it  may  be  found  in  immense 
quantities  all  over  the  earth.  The  land  hides  it  in  its 
dark  caves,  and  holds  it  forth  In  large  shining  masses  on 
the  surface ;  and  the  sea  is  filled  with  it,  from  the  top- 
most wave  to  the  bottomless  abyss.  For  the  unsightly- 
grain,  little  noticed  by  careless  man,  and  taken  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  by  most  of  us,  is  the  great  guardian  of 
health  throughout  our  world  ;  without  it  the  waters  of 


152  WONDERS  OP  THE  DEEP. 

the  earth  would  soon  stink  with  corruption  and  all  flesh 
would  be  foul  with  decay ;  without  it  the  plants  would 
no  longer  deck  the  land  with  their  beauty,  and  man  would 
die  a  death  of  misery  and  unspeakable  horror.  Hence 
the  mercy  of  the  Creator  has  scattered  it  broad-cast  over 
our  domain,  and  we  have  but  to  stretch  out  our  hand  to 
gather  the  precious  gift  from  on  high. 

For  away,  in  Eastern  Europe,  the  traveller  comes  up- 
on a  long,  low  range  of  hills,  stretching  from  east  to 
west,  which  enclose,  with  their  soft  outlines  and  well- 
wooded  slopes,  a  lovely  valley,  dotted  here  and  there 
with  smaller  hills  and  little  knolls.  A  cluster  of  low  but 
well-kept  houses  lies  toward  the  opening  from  which  he 
approaches  the  plain,  and  the  eye  wanders  freely  beyond 
them  into  distant  lowlands.  It  is  a  busy  scene  to  which 
he  comes,  and  men  are  moving  briskly  about  through  the 
narrow  streets  and  the  countless  paths  that  lead  over  the 
common.  They  wear  a  strange  costume  of  sombre  black, 
and  have  thick  leather  aprons  tied  on  behind  instead  of 
in  front ;  but  they  look  cheerful  and  happy,  and  many  a 
merry  song  and  sweet  carol  is  heard  far  and  near.  The 
traveller  engages  one  of  these  men,  who  all  greet  him 
with  a  pious  wish  for  his  soul's  welfare,  to  show  him  the 
way  into  the  mysterious  world  below,  of  which  he  has 
heard  much  ;  and  soon  he  finds  himself  arrayed  in  a  white 
blouse  and  black  velvet  cap,  such  as  are  kept  ready  for 
visitors,  at  the  mouth  of  a  shaft  which  seems  to  lead  down 
to  the  very  "bowels  of  the  earth.  When  his  eye  has  be- 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  153 

come  somewhat  better  accustomed  to  the  dim  light  of 
the  candle  stuck  in  his  hat,  he  notices  that  wooden  rails 
are  laid  all  the  way  down  the  gently  inclined  plane ;  and 
he  is  invited  to  mount  a  wooden  contrivance,  wondrously 
like  the  hobby-horse  of  our  happy  childhood.  The  miner 
sits  down  before  him  ;  the  horse —  a  sausage,  it  is  called 
in  local  parlance — starts  with  alarming  swiftness  on  the 
smooth,  oiled  rails,  and  his  right  hand,  armed  with  a 
stout,  leathern  gauntlet,  grasps  frantically  the  rope  that 
runs  along  the  wall,  to  check  the  painful  velocity.  At 
last  the  two  horsemen  are  stopped,  by  reaching  a  piece 
of  level  ground,  and  the  traveller  finds  himself  in  a  vast, 
subterranean  corridor,  cut  out  of  the  live  salt.  Huge 
blocks  of  the  precious  material  are  lying  about,  some 
colorless,  some  shining  in  beautiful  though  subdued  blue ; 
the  roof  rises  high  above  him,  and  looks  gray  and  grim 
in  the  dim  light,  and  on  his  right  the  vaulted  ceiling  rests 
on  gigantic  pillars,  in  which  each  tiny  grain  shines 
brightly  and  sparkles  as  the  light  falls  upon  it ;  and  yet 
they  all  hold  so  firmly  to  each  other  that  there  is  no 
danger  of  their  ever  giving  way  and  proving  faithless  to 
their  trust.  A  little  further  on  the  miners  are  hard  at 
work ;  they  attack  the  mountain-side  by  cutting  out  im- 
mense blocks  in  the  shape  of  huge  casks ;  then  water  is 
poured  down  the  furrows  and  allowed  to  remain  stand- 
ing there  a  few  days,  so  as  to  soften  the  rock ;  at  the 
proper  time  wedges  are  driven  in,  which  soon  swell  in  the 

water  and  blast  out,  as  it  were,  without  further  help  from 

7* 


154:  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

human  hands,  the  great  blocks  in  the  desired  form.  As 
the  traveller  wanders  on  through  the  long  dark  passages, 
with  statues  in  niches  and  holy  images  at  the  corners, 
he  passes  large  vaulted  rooms,  dark  caves,  and  huge  re- 
cesses, that  seem  to  have  no  end,  and  at  times  he  comes 
upon  stairs,  cut  in  the  rock,  which  he  has  to  descend  cau- 
tiously, so  smooth  and  slippery  is  the  material  of  which 
they  are  formed.  Every  now  and  then  he  sees,  at  a  dis- 
tance, a  bell-shaped  shaft,  from  the  top  of  which  hangs  a 
frail  ladder,  free  in  the  air,  swaying  and  swinging  to  and 
fro  with  the  cold  currents  that  blow  here  perpetually  ;  and 
he  looks  with  wonder  and  fear  at  the  poor  miner,  who 
trembles  and  crosses  himself  piously,  as  he  sets  foot  on 
the  slim  rounds  and  descends  slowly  into  the  apparently 
unfathomable  darkness  below.  All  of  a  sudden  he  sees 
bright  lights  before  him,  and,  dazzled  and  surprised,  he 
enters  a  vast  cathedral,  the  walls  of  which  shine  and  shim- 
mer all  around  in  fanciful,  flitting  lights,  as  the  light  of 
torches  and  candles  fall  upon  the  bright  masses  of  salt ; 
there  is  the  altar  with  its  colossal  cross,  and  at  the  side 
the  organ  and  choir;  here  also  statues  and  images 
abound  on  all  sides,  and  even  human  worshippers,  kneeling 
down  in  silent  adoration,  are  cut  out  in  the  yielding 
material.  He  has  little  relish,  perhaps,  for  the  vast  ball- 
room, with  its  orchestra  on  high  and  tis  brilliant  chande- 
liers, glittering  and  glistening  like  the  fairest  of  crystals- 
and  bed-chambers  with  mocking  couches ;  for  the  whole 
upper  world  is  repeated  here  below  in  grotesque  caricature. 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  155 

Gradually  the  passages  become  lower;  the  ceiling 
sinks  more  and  more  on  the  left,  and  at  last  the  travel- 
ler is  forced  to  bend,  until  he  fairly  creeps  along  on  all 
fours.  But  suddenly  he  sees  before  him  a  fairy  scene : 
dark  waters,  sparkling  bright  in  the  light  of  torches  fas- 
tened to  the  glistening  walls.  Like  a  vast  black  mirror, 
the  subterranean  lake,  silent  and  motionless,  stretches 
far  into  the  endless  darkness.  Never  has  wing  of  bird 
dipped  its  feathers  into  the  mysterious  water ;  never  has 
a  breath  of  air  ruffled  its  placid,  patient  surface.  Like 
walls  of  iron,  the  rocks  of  salt  rise  all  around  in  grim 
solemnity,  and  hold  the  restless  element  bound  in  eternal 
silence  and  peace.  The  scene  is  beautiful,  and  yet  fear- 
ful in  its  utter  loneliness  and  death-like  stillness. 

A  few  shells  and  debris  of  marine-plants  are  found  on 
the  banks  of  the  black  tarn,  but  they  belong  to  genera- 
tions as  old  as  the  Deluge.  No  life  has  ever  been  known 
to  grace  the  lake.  Only  ages  and  ages  ago,  when  the 
waters  that  now  rest  deep  below  the  world  of  men,  were 
purling  merrily  down  the  mountain-side,  they  bore  with 
them  the  tiny  houses  of  friendly  animals ;  and  in  their 
wanderings  through  the  hidden  depths  of  the  earth,  car- 
ried them  with  them  to  their  silent  home.  At  the  fur- 
ther end,  to  which  the  traveller  is  rowed  in  a  crazy  punt, 
a  little  chapel  rises,  unpretending  and  unhonored,  and 
yet  of  great  import.  It  is  devoted  to  the  memory  of«the 
pious  wife  of  one  of  Poland's  early  kings,  to  whom 
Heaven  vouchsafed,  in  1252,  the  boon  of  bestowing  the 


156  WONDEES   OP  THE   DEEP. 

knowledge  of  these  wondrous  treasures  on  her  impover- 
ished subjects.  She  was  afar  off  in  Hungary,  the  legend 
says,  and  hearing  there  of  the  fearful  suffering  of  her  na- 
tive land,  she  was  ordered,  by  her  patron-saint,  to  cast  a 
precious  ring,  whicli  she  most  valued  of  all  her  trinkets, 
into  a  deep  well.  She  did  it  in  simple  faith,  and,  when 
she  returned  to  her  home  at  the  foot  of  the  Carpathian 
Mountains,  some  peasants  brought  her  a  piece  of  rock- 
salt,  believing  it  to  be  a  costly  jewel.  It  was  of  no  value 
in  itself,  but,  oh  wonder !  in  the  heart  of  the  transparent 
mass  her  ring  lay  imbedded.  She  understood  the  revela- 
tion from  on  high — ordered  search  to  be  made  for  more 
of  the  shining  substance,  and  thus  were  discovered  the 
great  mines  of  Wieliczka,  which  have  ever  since  been  a 
source  of  greater  wealth  than  the  richest  mines  of  gold 
or  diamonds. 

Beyond  the  little  chapel  the  work  begins  once  more, 
and  miners  are  seen  busy  loosening  vast  lumps  of  salt 
from  the  parent  mass,  blasting  the  less  pure  material 
with  powder,  and  cutting  oat  the  more  valuable  blocks 
carefully  with  chisel  and  chipping-knife.  Others  har- 
ness the  twelve  horses  that  are  kept  below  and  have 
never  seen  the  light  of  heaven,  to  rude  sledges,  on  which 
the  blocks  are  drawn  to  the  foot  of  the  shafts,  that  lead 
up  to  the  world  above;  while  still  others  are  opening 
new  passages  or  propping  up  dangerous  places  with  large 
wooden  pillars.  With  a  feeling  of  pity  for  their  hard 
work  and  thankfulness  for  the  boon  they  bestow  upon 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  157 

mankind,  the  traveller  passes  them,  returning  their 
friendly  greeting,  and  gladly  beholds  once  more,  as  he 
rises  to  the  top  of  the  shaft,  the  bright  light  of  day 
and  the  fresh  air  of  the  earth  above. 

Thus  the  salt  is  found  crystallized  in  large  beds  and 
boulders,  stowed  away  between  layers  of  clay  and  lime- 
stone, in  more  or  less  regular  shapes,  and  then  called 
rock-salt.  Nearly  every  part  of  our  globe  is  endowed 
with  vast  deposits  of  the  kind.  Bergen  in  Norway,  and 
Cardona  in  Spain,  vie  with  each  other  in  the  abundance 
of  their  supply.  In  the  latter  place,  a  huge  mountain  of 
almost  pure  salt  rises  clear  and  sheer  from  the  plain,  the 
whole  mass  shining  brilliantly  like  a  glacier  in  the  sun- 
light, or  glittering  in  a  thousand  hues  and  sh*ades,  when 
day  fades  away.  The  salt  here  is  so  hard  that  it  has  to 
be  blasted,  like  real  rock,  with  gunpowder,  and  the  chips 
are  worked  up  by  skilful  hands  into  snuff-boxes,  crosses, 
and  rings.  Norwich,  in  England,  boasts  of  a  field  of 
salt  more  than  seventy-five  miles  long  ;  Salzburg  proud- 
ly bears  the  name  of  its  staple  product ;  and  Mexico  and 
Persia,  the  East  and  the  West,  are  all  full  of  ample  sup- 
plies, which,  by  God's  providence,  have  been  laid  up  in 
store  for  many  generations  to  come. 

Not  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  however,  is  salt  found 
so  pure  as  to  be  fit  for  immediate  consumption.  Gener- 
ally it  is  mixed  up  with  clay  and  sand,  and  then  has  to 
be  purified  by  the  aid  of  water.  Man  leads  the  purifying 
element  down  to  the  beds  of  rock-salt,  allows  it  to  dis- 


158  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

solve  as  much  as  it  is  capable  of  holding,  and  then  raises 
it,  by  vast  pump-works,  once  more  to  the  surface  of  the 
earth.  In  vast  kettles  and  pans,  beneath  which  huge 
fires  burn  day  and  night,  the  brine  is  then  evaporated, 
and  white  crystals  of  salt  remain,  pure  and  unadulterated, 
at  the  bottom  and  on  the  sides  of  the  vessels. 

In  other  regions  Nature  is  even  more  liberal,  and 
saves  man  the  necessity  of  leading  the  water  down  to 
the  depths  in  which  salt  is  hidden.  Large  rivers  be- 
neath the  ground  are  led,  by  the  hand  that  holds  the 
earth  in  its  grasp,  over  extensive  deposits  of  salt,  and 
then  break  forth  as  saline  springs  at  the  side  of  the 
mountain.  Thus  there  is  near  Minden,  in  Prussia,  a  well 
nearly  two  thousand  feet  deep,  which  holds  a  water,  the 
temperature  of  which  exceeds  25°  Reaumur,  and  which 
is,  below,  continually  dissolving  large  blocks  of  salt,  in 
order  to  gush  forth  above  and  bring  the  precious  gift  up 
to  the  surface.  Germany  boasts  of  not  less  than  eighty 
such  valuable  springs ;  and  our  own  country  is  most 
richly  endowed  in  like  manner,  so  that  the  two  States  of 
New  York  and  Virginia  could  supply,  if  need  be,  the 
whole  of  the  Union  with  the  salt  they  require. 

Brilliant  as  it  appears  in  the  shape  of  rock-salt,  and 
pleasing  as  are  the  waters  of  saline  springs  to  the  eye, 
salt  yet  presents  itself,  at  times,  under  an  aspect  much 
less  inviting.  No  words  can  describe  the  horror  of  the 
vast  salt-plains,  which  here  and  there  interrupt  the 
beautiful  carpet  that  covers  the  surface  of  our  earth. 


A  PINCH  or  SALT.  159 

Thus  there  is  a  vast  district  in  South  America,  extending 
over  more  than  twenty  thousand  square  miles,  which 
forms  one  enormous  group  of  desolate  mountains  inter- 
sected with  vast  deserts,  saline  swamps,  and  dried-up 
salt-lakes.  Currents  of  hot  air  meet  here  from  all  parts 
of  the  compass,  and  with  such  vehemence  and  persistent 
fury,  as  they  rise  incessantly  from  the  heated,  steaming 
soil,  that  no  clouds  can  be  formed  and  no  rain  can  fall 
from  the  ever-serene  sky. 

Even  more  fearful  yet  is  an  endless,  lifeless  plain  in 
the  heart  of  Persia,  so  sterile  and  accursed  than  even 
saline  plants  do  not  thrive  here ;  but  the  salt  itself,  as  if 
in  bitter  mockery,  fashions  its  crystals  in  the  form  of 
stems  and  stalks,  and  covers  the  steppe  with  a  carpet  of 
unique  vegetation,  glittering  and  glistening  like  an  en- 
chanted prairie  in  the  dazzling  light  of  the  Eastern 
sun.  In  the  rare  places,  where  the  thick  crust  is  broken 
and  vegetation  is  favored  by  night-dews,  a  few  strag- 
gling herbs  and  grasses  appear ;  but  they  are  saturated 
with  salt  and  soda,  the  sap  tastes  bitter  and  salty,  and 
stalks  and  leaves  alike  are  covered  with  a  thick  incrusta- 
tion of  salt,  as  if  with  impalpable  powder.  They  afford 
no  nutriment  to  the  herds,  and  soon  give  away  again  to 
the  genuine  salt-desert,  where  shepherd  and  flock  alike 
find  their  death.  For  here  a  light,  loose  sand  rules 
supreme,  now  treacherously  quiet,  but  sure  to  engulf  the 
heedless  herdsman  who  puts  his  foot  on  the  glistening 
surface,  and  is  swiftly  sucked  in  by  the  tricky  soil ;  and 


160  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

now  rising  in  large,  deep-red  clouds,  which  fill  the  valleys 
and  level  the  ridges,  till  every  landmark  is  effaced,  and 
the  whole  vast  region  resembles  a  petrified  ocean  of 
blood-red  waters. 

Who  can  describe  the  bitter,  mournful  disappointment 
of  the  thirsty  traveller,  who  sees,  at  last,  afar  off,  the  wel- 
come glittering  of  waters,  and  hastens,  with  renewed 
vigor  and  high  hopes,  toward  the  enchanted  spot  ?  En- 
chanted, indeed  !  For  as  he  approaches,  the  fairy  spec- 
tacle strikes  him  with  wonder  and  sad  misgivings.  In 
the  midst  of  the  brown,  desolate  plain,  a  vast  level  sheet 
of  pure  white  stretches  far  and  near ;  he  draws  nearer, 
with  faltering,  doubtful  step,  and  sees,  at  last,  to  his  hor- 
ror and  dismay,  that  what  he  fancied  a  basin  of  cool, 
refreshing  water,  is  nothing  more  than  a  white  crust  of 
salt.  Or,  it  may  be,  he  descends,  with  eager  expecta- 
tion, the  steps  hewn  in  the  precipitous  walls  of  an  an- 
cient crater  in  South  America,  of  which  Darwin  tells  us, 
in  order  to  reach  the  little  circular  lake,  embosomed 
among  rugged  fields  of  lava,  and  fringed  with  a  border 
of  bright-green,  succulent  plants.  As  he  looks  down 
from  the  immense  tuft  crater,  he  sees  the  water  clearly, 
and  fancies  his  ear  even  discerns  the  pleasant  splash 
against  the  modest  beach ;  but  when  he  reaches  the  lake 
and  dips  his  parched  lips  into  the  liquid,  he  draws  back 
with  dismay ;  for  it  is  bitter  and  brackish,  and  unfit  for 
the  use  of  man.  Other  travellers  tell  us  of  the  sad  fate 
of  black  slaves  who  work  in  the  salt-plains  of  the  Sahara, 


A  PINCH  OP  SALT.  161 

collecting  the  salt  from  the  surface,  hundreds  of  miles 
away  from  the  nearest  oasis,  and  sure  to  perish  by  hun- 
ger and  thirst,  if  the  caravan  that  is  to  bring  them  food 
and  water  should  lose  its  way  in  the  desert  or  fall  into 
the  hands  of  merciless  robbers. 

Even  Europe  is  not  free  from  these  unfortunate  places, 
which  seem  to  bear  the  curse  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
and  have  become  what  Zephaniah  threatens,  "  a  breed- 
ing of  nettles,  and  salt-pits,  and  a  perpetual  desolation." 
Here  nothing  grows  but  impoverished  looking  plants, 
with  pale,  bluish-green  color  and  faded  blossoms,  which 
give  to  the  region  an  air  of  overwhelming  monotony  and 
ghastly  sterility.  The  burning  rays  of  the  sun  are  mer- 
cilessly reflected  from  the  white  crust  of  salt,  which  cov- 
ers the  soil,  with  such  fierceness,  that  the  eyes  are  una- 
ble to  bear  the  unearthly  splendor,  and  the  soil  opens 
here  and  there  in  huge  cracks  and  crevices,  burned,  as  it 
is,  to  the  core,  and  but  rarely  refreshed  by  scanty  rain 
or  nightly  dew. 

How  did  these  desolate  lakes  originate,  and  whence 
come  the  bubbling  springs  which  so  industriously  bring 
up  to  their  master  the  salt  he  needs  for  his  life  ?  The 
question,  for  a  long  time,  defied  the  wisest  among  men  ; 
but  modern  science  has  solved  the  riddle,  at  least  with 
regard  to  the  latter.  We  know  now  that  the  water  that 
comes  in  the  shape  of  snows  and  rains  from  the  skies,  and 
of  the  dew  distilled  near  the  surface,  slowly  but  surely 
finds  its  way,  through  the  porous  crust  of  the  earth, 


162  WONDERS  OF  THE  I>EEP. 

down  to  the  interior  of  mountains  and  far  below  the 
level  of  plains.  It  stops  not  till  it  meets  with  a  layer  of 
firm  rock,  which  prevents  it  from  sinking  still  lower ; 
and  here,  on  the  unyielding  stone,  it  forms,  gradually, 
subterranean  lakes ;  the  waters  are  not  at  rest  yet,  but 
silently  and  steadily  keep  on,  dissolving  all  that  they 
can  reach  around  them,  and  thus  they  become  saturated, 
now  with  sulphur  or  salt,  and  now  with  minerals  of 
every  kind.  When  man  discovers  such  a  spot,  he  sinks 
a  shaft  to  the  basin  below,  and  at  once  the  waters,  re- 
lieved of  the  pressure,  leap  up  in  wild  joy  at  their  return 
to  the  bright  light  from  which  they  came,  and  rise  as 
high,  once  more,  as  the  place  where  they  first  entered 
the  earth.  Science  tells  us,  of  course,  that  there  must 
ever  be  found,  near  such  springs,  large  beds  of  salt ; 
and  this  has  led,  of  late,  to  most  valuable  discoveries  of 
immense  deposits  in  Germany  and  in  France. 

The  origin  of  extensive  surface-beds  of  salt,  such  as 
are  found  in  the  vast  steppes  near  the  Caspian  Sea  and 
the  Aral,  high  above  the  surrounding  country  and  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  supplies  from  a  distance,  is  less 
clearly  understood.  Some  believe  that  they  are  the 
beds  of  ancient  oceans,  from  which  the  water  has  grad- 
ually evaporated,  leaving  nothing  but  the  bare  bright 
crystal  behind.  This  explanation  may  apply  to  the 
Siberian  salt-plains,  which,  like  the  Sahara,  were  no 
doubt  once  the  bottoms  of  great  oceans,  drained  by 
some  fearful  upheaving  of  the  ground  or  the  breaking 


A  PINCH  or  SALT.  163 

down  of  gigantic  walls,  which  formerly  held  in  the  waters 
of  the  enormous  inland  lakes.     But  with  regard  to  others, 

None  can  reply— all  seems  eternal  now. 
The  wilderness  has  a  mysterious  tongue, 
Which  teaches  awful  doubt. 

Others  think  that  the  salt,  which  now  glistens  on  the 
surface,  once  lay  buried  far  below,  and  was  raised,  by 
volcanic  upheavings  and  fiery  eruptions,  in  the  shape  of 
boiling  brine ;  the  waters  then  evaporated,  or  were  car- 
ried by  rivers  into  the  sea,  and  the  salt  remained  spread 
out  on  the  low  bottom  of  the  steppes.  But  this  theory 
would  hardly  account  for  the  strange  fact,  that  the  salt 
on  these  immense  plains  actually  grows  there ;  it  is  no 
sooner  removed  by  the  hand  of  man,  than  it  begins  to 
reappear,  and  ere  long  the  crust  is  close  and  compact 
once  more.  This  is  the  case  with  the  terrible  Desert  of 
Dankali  in  Abyssinia,  where,  for  four  days'  journey, 
nothing  is  seen  but  a  rank  vegetation  of  apparent  plants, 
with  their  stems  and  leaf-stalks  all  of  salt,  and  where  no 
effort  to  clear  the  soil  ever  makes  the  slightest  impression. 
The  same  has  been  observed  near  the  Salt  Lake  of  Utah 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  Mingo  Lake  in  Texas,  where  the 
crust  of  salt  is  so  thick  that  it  can  be  removed  in  large 
blocks,  and  yet  no  diminution  is  ever  observed. 

Where  neither  masses  of  rock-salt,  nor  waters  holding 
large  quantities  of  salt,  provide  for  the  wants  of  man,  he 
knows  how  to  force  the  very  plants  that  delight,  like 
him,  in  the  precious  boon  of  nature,  to  furnish  him  all  he 


164  WONDERS  OF  THE'  DEEP. 

desires.  For  it  is  not  the  miner  alone  who  goes  down 
into  the  deep  of  the  earth  to  search  for  salt,  but  plants 
also  send  down  their  roots,  draw  up  the  salt  water,  and 
deposit  the  proceeds  in  beautiful  crystals  in  their  cells. 
There  are  few  plants,  altogether,  which  do  not  contain  in 
their  delicate  tissues  a  certain  quantity  of  salt,  especially 
in  the  stems  and  the  branches,  and  leave  it  behind  in 
their  ashes,  when  they  are  burned.  Some  cereals  require 
it,  therefore,  for  their  satisfactory  growth,  and  much  salt 
is  sown  on  the  broad  lands  of  England  and  the  fields  of 
China ;  others,  like  asparagus  and  flax,  do  not  thrive  at 
all  without  such  aid.  But  the  growth  which  surrounds 
salt-springs  and  the  plants  that  love  to  dwell  on  the  sea- 
shore, delight  in  the  little  grains ;  even  the  lofty  cocos- 
palm  sends  its  large  oval  fruit  adrift,  to  seek  some  briny 
strand,  where  it  may  find  a  rich  soil  and  abundance  of 
salt ;  and  the  careful  husbandman  of  those  regions,  when 
planting  the  nut  that  is  to  give  him  his  daily  bread, 
drops  a  handful  of  salt  into  the  hole,  to  which  he  con- 
fides the  gigantic  seed-corn. 

Here  and  there,  in  favored  lands,  you  see  a  vast, 
marshy  meadow,  spread  out  in  beautiful  luxuriance  be- 
fore your  eye,  dotted  with  pretty  copses  of  elders  and 
willows.  Close  by  one  of  these  groups  of  low,  spread- 
ing trees,  where  the  soil  almost  imperceptibly  rises  into  a 
little  knoll,  there  gushes  forth  a  clear,  powerful  spring, 
and  forms,  at  its  very  birth,  a  large,  circular  basin,  filled 
with  transparent  water.  A  rivulet  runs  from  it  slowly 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  165 

but  steadily,  wanders,  as  if  enjoying  the  luxury  of  leis- 
ure, through  level  meadows,  saturating  the  porous  soil  on 
the  right  and  the  left,  and  at  last  falls,  at  the  edge  of  the 
high  table-land,  with  merry  laughter,  into  the  lower 
plain,  to  bring  its  modest  tribute  to  the  large  river  be- 
low. 

There  are  other  meadows  scattered  over  the  plateau, 
but  not  one  of  them  can  boast  of  the  bright  flowers  and 
waving  grasses  which  bud  and  blossom  forth  in  un- 
wonted richness.  Thousands  of  purple  asters  peep  out 
with  their  bright  eyes,  set  in  golden  yellow,  from  the 
midst  of  dense  clumps  of  reeds ;  luxuriant  plantains  over- 
shadow a  host  of  minor  plants  of  strange  and  uncouth 
appearance,  and  a  variety  of  glaux  spreads  all  around  a 
deep-green  carpet,  strewn  with  an  abundance  of  small 
white  flowers.  Further  on,  a  quaint  salicornia  appears, 
in  large  patches ;  its  long-linked  stem  looks  as  if  it  would 
burst,  filled,  as  it  seems,  to  overflowing  with  exuberant 
sap,  and  in  the  axes  between  the  branches,  lurk  countless 
diminutive  blossoms  of  bright  yellow.  Even  the  grasses 
and  reeds  which  cover  the  marshy  ground,  when  more 
closely  examined,  prove  to  be  entirely  different  from  all 
that  grow  on  adjoining  lands. 

The  flocks  of  birds  who  have  left  their  homes  in  the 
far  north,  and  now,  with  swift  wings,  move  southward  to 
more  genial  climes,  might  fancy  they  beheld  here,  once 
more,  the  shores  on  which  they  last  sought  rest  and  re- 
pose. For  here  are  the  same  flowers  which  they  saw 


166  WONDERS  OF  THE  -DEEP. 

there,  near  the  downs ;  the  same  lowly  herbs  that  love  to 
be  bathed  daily  in  the  briny  waters,  and  the  same  reeds 
that  grow  there  within  reach  of  the  unfailing  tides.  For 
it  is  a  salt-spring  which  here  wells  up,  and  unable,  at 
once,  to  reach  the  lowlands  by  any  other  outlet,  has  here 
formed  a  lake,  and  furnished  food  to  an  exuberant  vege- 
tation. 

It  is  from  these  saline  plants,  growing  now  near  the 
shores  of  the  ocean,  and  now  far  inland  around  merry 
springs,  that  large  provisions  of  salt  are  won  by  the  aid  of 
fire.  The  soda,  or  barile  of  commerce,  comes  almost  ex- 
clusively from  the  ashes  of  the  saltwort,  a  plant  of  grayish 
green  color,  wj£h  stems  a  foot  long,  thickly  set  with 
prickly  hair,  and  with  uncouth,  swollen-looking  leaves, 
ending  in  sharp,  pointed  thorns.  The  Arabs  hardly  knew 
what  a  blessing  they  bestowed  upon  mankind,  when,  up- 
on settling  in  Spain,  they  brought  with  them  not  only 
their  merino  sheep,  their  cotton  and  sugar-cane,  but  also 
the  unsightly  saltwort,  from  which  they  already  knew 
how  to  obtain  the  soda  of  our  day. 

Another  salt-plant,  the  leafless  glasswort,  is  eaten  as  a 
salad  in  England  and  the  whole  north  of  Europe ;  but 
the  most  curious  of  them  all  is  perhaps  the  variety  known 
to  our  green-houses  as  the  ice-plant.  This  strange-look- 
ing plant  is  a  treasure  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Canary 
Islands,  who  raise  it  in  large  fields,  pull  it  up  when  ready 
for  use,  burn  it,  and  drive  a  most  profitable  trade  with 
the  soda  they  obtain  from  the  ashes. 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  167 

It  is,  however,  not  the  water  only  which  gives  us  salt, 
but  we  owe  it  also,  at  times,  to  the  benevolence  of  fire. 
For  although  the  beautiful  crystals  do  not  become  vola- 
tile till  they  are  heated  to  a  white -glow,  they  are  still 
not  unfrequently  found  among  the  strange  medley  of 
substances  thrown  out  by  volcanoes.  After  an  eruption, 
the  cracks  and  crevices  of  Mount  Vesuvius  are  often 
covered  with  a  thick  crust  of  salt,  and  the  surface  of  pet- 
rified streams  of  lava  appears,  at  times,  from  the  s-ame 
cause,  as  if  thickly  strewn  with  white  powder.  In  1822, 
the  salt  cropped  out  in  such  very  large  masses,  that  the 
greedy  Government  of  Naples  laid  an  embargo  on  the 
treasure,  and  obtained,  through  its  own  w.orkmen,  blocks 
of  twenty-four  feet  square  from  the  vicinity  of  the  crater. 
The  same  takes  place  occasionally  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Hecla,  in  Iceland,  and  the  industrious  peasants  carry 
whole  wagon-loads  to  their  fields  and  their  houses. 

Such  is  the  history  and  home  of  the  .precious  little 
grain,  which  the  world,  from  the  beginning,  has  looked 
upon  with  a  feeling  akin  to  awe  and  reverence.  For 
while  deeply  grateful  to  the  Giver  of  every  good  and  per- 
fect gift  for  the  tiny  crystal,  on  which  life  itself  is  depend- 
ent, men  have  ever  felt  that  it  was  endowed  also  with  a 
dread  power  of  final  destruction.  The  ancients  had  no 
doubt  that  salt  was  a  direct  gift  of  the  gods,  and  hence 
they  joined  it,  symbolically,  to  every  sacrifice  offered  on 
holy  altars  ;  and  Moses  ordained  that  "  every  oblation  of 
thy  meat  shalt  thou  season  with  salt :  neither  shalt  thou 


168  WONDERS  OP  THE -DEEP. 

suffer  the  salt  of  the  covenant  of  thy  God  to  be  lacking 
from  the  meat-offering  :  with  all  thine  offering  thou  shalt 
offer  salt."  The  Aztecs  of  Mexico  had  a  special  goddess 
presiding  over  the  use  of  the  indispensable  condiment ; 
the  Chinese  celebrate,  to  this  day,  an  annual  feast  in 
honor  of  him  who  first  introduced  it  into  general  use ; 
and  the  old  Egyptians,  when  they  performed  the  rites  of 
their  great  festival  in  honor  of  Neith,  the  mother  of  life, 
filled  the  lamps  of  their  temples  with  salt  as  well  as 
oil. 

Miraculous  powers,  also,  seem  to  have  been  attributed 
to  salt,  from  olden  times ;  for  the  Hebrews  used  to  rub 
new-born  children  with  it,  partly  from  a  belief,  sanctioned 
by  Galen,  that  this  hardened  and  strengthened  their  skin, 
and  partly  from  faith  in  its  special  blessing.  Hence  the 
prophet  Ezekiel  reproaches  the  stubborn  people,  by  say- 
ing :  "  Thou  wast  not  salted  at  all,  nor  swaddled  at  all ; " 
and  even  the  early  Christians  adhered  to  the  old  usage, 
for  they  initiated  young  converts  into  the  mysteries  of 
their  faith  by  placing  salt  in  their  mouth,  as  they  did 
with  infants  at  the  time  of  their  baptism. 

It  was  but  natural,  therefore,  that  the  semi-sacred 
character  of  salt  should  lead  soon  to  its  being  used  in 
connection  with  treaties  and  compacts  to  render  them 
more  binding.  The  Old  Testament  is  full  of  allusions  to 
this  ancient  usage,  and  Moses  already  speaks  of  "  a  salt- 
covenant  forever  before  the  Lord  unto  thee  and  unto  thy 
seed  with  thee."  Its  power  to  protect  against  corruption 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  169 

lent  its  symbolic  force  to  stipulations  even  among  infidels, 
and  few  such  compacts  were  made  without  a  plate  of  salt 
being  placed  ready  at  hand,  from  which  each  of  the  con- 
tracting parties  eat  a  few  grains,  instead  of  swearing  an 
oath.  The  Arabs  of  our  day  still  enter  into  the  most  sa- 
cred treaty  of  friendship  with  each  other  by  pushing  a 
piece  of  bread,  strewn  with  salt,  into  each  other's  mouth, 
and  then  call  it  a  "  salt-treaty."  The  ancestral  salt-cel- 
lar, that  played  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  household  of 
ancient  Romans,  was,  in  like  manner,  the  great  symbol 
of  the  union  that  bound  the  members  of  a  family  to  each 
other. 

Scarcely  less  general  is,  however,  the  dread  which  salt 
inspired  by  its  strange  power  of  destroying  the  produc- 
tiveness of  the  soil ;  and  thus  it  became,  very  early,  al- 
ready the  symbol  of  sterility  also.  Jeremiah  cursed  Ju- 
dah,  by  condemning  it  "  to  inhabit  the  parched  places  in 
the  wilderness,  in  a  salt-land,  and  not  inhabited ; "  and 
the  terrible  fate  of  Lot's  wife  has  left  the  curse  vivid  in 
the  memory  of  men.  For  the  same  reason,  when  Abime- 
lech  had  destroyed  the  city  of  Sichom,  and  rased  its 
walls  to  the  ground,  the  place  where  it  had  stood  was 
sown  with  salt,  not  in  order  to  make  it  sterile,  but  as  a 
sign  that  it  should  remain  waste  forever.  Even  the  Mid- 
dle Ages  employed  the  dread  symbol ;  and  the  great 
Barbarossa,  after  taking  rebellious  Milan,  and  destroy- 
ing its  beautiful  buildings,  ordered  the  plough  to  be 

passed  over  the  city,  and  then  salt  to  be  strewn  on  the 

8 


170  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

spot,  .leaving  only  the  churches  unharmed,  "  for  the 
greater  glory  of  God." 

On  the  other  hand,  salt  makes  "  unsavory  things " 
palatable  again,  as  Job  already  mentions ;  and  hence  it 
soon  became  usual  to  speak  of  it  as  a  symbol  of  that 
sagacity  which  uses  apparently  worthless  matters  for  a 
good  purpose,  and  employs  words  of  trifling  import  in 
themselves  with  great  effect.  This  was  the  first  meaning 
of  Attic  salt ;  hence,  also,  St.  Paul  writes,  "  Let  your 
speech  be  alway  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt,  that  ye 
may  know  how  to  answer  every  man ; "  and  the  Saviour 
Himself  calls  His  disciples  "  the  salt  of  the  earth,"  as 
men  by  whose  instruction  and  example  their  brethren 
are  to  be  taught  and  saved  from  condemnation. 

All  this  worship  of  salt  as  a  divine  gift,  this  venera- 
tion of  its  sacred  character,  and  this  dread  of  its 
destructive  powers,  centre,  however,  in  the  simple  fact, 
taught  by  modern  chemistry,  that  salt  is  the  great 
regulator  of  the  health  of  the  world.  Without  it  the 
seas  would  be  impure,  and  the  land  a  desolate  scene  of 
destruction ;  man  would  not  be  able  to  live,  and  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  with  the  plants  that  feed  them, 
would  no  longer  be  seen.  The  little  grain  of  salt  at 
which  we  hardly  glance,  is  thus  of  vital  importance  in 
the  great  household  of  nature.  But  it  shares  the  fate  of 
all  indispensable  things  by  which  we  are  surrounded : 
habit  makes  dull  the  sensibility  of  our  senses,  and  with 
it  the  activity  of  thought  that  depends  on  such  impres- 


A  PINCH  or  SALT.  171 

eions.  Only  what  is  rare  and  unusual  attracts  our  atten- 
tion, though  it  have  but  an  outside  brilliancy  and  useless 
beauty.  The  sparkling  diamond  is  sure  of  admiration ; 
set  in  bright  gold,  it  is  esteemed  above  all  things,  and 
serves  to  enhance  beauty,  to  display  our  wealth,  or  to 
symbolize  supreme  power.  The  unattractive  twin- sister, 
black  coal,  has  to  do  hard  work  in  the  kitchen,  the  work- 
shop, and  the  factory,  like  a  true  Cinderella ;  and  yet  on 
coal,  and  not  on  the  diamond,  rests  the  true  wealth  of  a 
nation,  the  foundation  of  happiness  for  countless  mil- 
lions. Thus  it  is  with  the  tiny  grain  of  salt ;  rich  and 
poor  see  it,  day  by  day,  on  their  table,  and  enjoy  it  with 
everything  they  eat  and  drink,  but  few  ever  inquire 
whence  it  came,  and  what  accident  or  what  necessity 
brought  it  there.  And  yet,  let  it  be  missing  but  for  a 
single  day,  and  how  we  would  suffer  ! 

We  all  know  that  the  ocean  is  salt,  and  that  without 
it  neither  animal  nor  plant  could  live  in  the  vast  basins 
of  the  earth.  But  it  is  less  generally  known  that  the 
amount  of  salt  in  different  seas  is  not  the  same,  but 
steadily  decreases  in  the  direction  from  the  equator  to 
the  poles.  Scoresby  tells  us  that,  of  European  seas,  the 
Mediterranean  holds  most,  the  Baltic  least ;  so  that  the 
fishermen  of  the  north  have  to  send  for  the  salt  they 
need  in  preserving  their  fish,  to  the  more  favored  regions 
of  the  south,  and  salt  becomes  a  patron  of  active  trade. 
The  Atlantic  Ocean,  again,  has  more  salt  than  the 
Pacific,  and  the  Polar  Sea  least  of  all.  With  the  amount 


172  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

of  salt,  which  makes  the  water  denser,  and  thus  better 
able  to  bear  heavy  vessels  on  its  broad  shoulders, 
changes,  of  course,  also  the  degree  of  density ;  and  as 
water  is  naturally  desirous  to  restore  the  equilibrium, 
there  follows  a  constant  flow  to  and  fro ;  so  that  salt 
here  appears  as  the  great  motive-power,  which  causes 
the  currents  of  the  sea  !  These  again,  in  their  turn,  be- 
stow warmth  on  Western  Europe,  mix  the  differently 
heated  waters  of  the  ocean  so  as  to  protect  the  life  that 
teems  in  them  against  cold,  and  favor  the  sailing  of 
trade-ships.  Thus  climate  and  temperature,  winds  and 
currents,  navigation  and  the  fertility  of  coast-lands,  all 
depend  on  the  presence  of  the  little  pinch  of  salt ! 

Far  better  known  is  the  fact  that  man,  like  all  animal 
life,  cannot  exist  without  salt,  but  must  miserably  perish, 
so  that  among  the  most  terrible  punishments,  entailing 
certain  death  with  fearful  suffering,  that  of  feeding  crim- 
inals with  saltless  food  was  not  uncommon  in  barbarous 
times,  and  prevailed,  to  our  disgrace,  until  quite  recently, 
in  one  of  the  northern  countries  of  Europe.  Animals, 
deprived  of  salt,  lose  their  hair,  become  lean  and  hid- 
eous to  look  at,  and  die  a  death  of  unspeakable  suffering. 
The  reason  is  simple.  A  man,  weighing  a  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds,  carries  in  him  at  least  one  pound  of  salt ;  it 
constitutes  five  per  cent,  of  the  solid  matter  of  his  blood, 
and  an  almost  equal  proportion  of  all  the  cartilages  of 
the  body,  and  the  bile  contains  soda  as  a  special  and  in- 
dispensable element  in  the  process  of  digestion.  If  the 


17 

A  PINCH  OF  SALT. 


salt,  then,  be  withdrawn,  or  the  ounce  which  every  one 
of  us  daily  loses  by  perspiration  and  other  means,  be 
not  replaced,  digestion  is  arrested,  the  bony  part  of  our 
frame  is  not  rebuilt,  the  eye  loses  its  brilliancy,  and  the 
whole  system  breaks  down. 

Hence  the  craving  of  man  and  beast  alike  for  the  pre- 
cious grain.  Pliny  but  expressed  the  necessity  of  its 
use  for  life,  when  he  said  that  all  the  loveliness  and  joy- 
ousness  of  life  could  not  be  better  expressed  than  by  the 
name  of  salt,  and  the  rulers  of  the  world  were  not  slow 
in  taking  advantage  of  this  fact,  by  taxing  the,  indispen- 
sable gift  of  nature.  Five  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
already,  the  mythical  king,  Ancus  Mar  this,  established, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  a  saline,  under  the  control  of 
the  state ;  and  at  a  later  period  the  censor  Livius  earned 
the  name  of  Salinator,  by  raising  the  duty  on  salt. 
From  distant  China  to  the  west  of  Europe,  every  Gov- 
ernment learned  to  treat  salt  as  one  of  the  regalia ;  and 
not  many  years  ago,  poor  French  peasants  were  still 
cruelly  punished  if  they  dared  draw  a  bucket  of  water 
from  the  great  ocean,  in  order  to  secure  the  few  grains 
of  salt  it  contained  ! 

As  vegetable  food  is  both  unpalatable  and  little  nutri- 
tious unless  accompanied  by  salt,  herbivorous  animals 
everywhere  delight  in  its  use.  The  wild  buffalo  and  the 
deer,  as  well  as  our  domestic  cattle,  enjoy  it  with  evident 
relish ;  and  the  Alpine  herdsman,  like  the  Gaucho  of  the 
Pampas,  trains  his  half-wild  herds  to  meet  him  at  certain 


174  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

places,  by  depositing  small  quantities  of  salt  at  regular 
intervals.  When  the  eager  huntsman,  in  Southern 
Africa,  is  in  search  of  rare  sport,  he  hides  himself  at  a 
favorite  salt-lick,  and  is  sure  to  be  amply  rewarded ;  and 
the  cunning  chamois-hunter  of  the  Alps  prepares  his 
way,  years  ahead,  by  cautiously  placing  a  handful  of  salt 
in  accessible  spots,  until  even  those  sagacious  animals  are 
beguiled,  by  their  greediness,  and  finally  fall  into  the 
hands  of  their  enemy. 

Even  here,  however,  man  shows  his  strange  superiority 
over  lower  beings ;  for  while  animals,  without  exception, 
love  salt  with  equal  fondness,  the  desire  among  men  dif- 
fers essentially.  Nations  who  live  largely  on  animal 
food,  value  it  naturally  less  than  those  who  prefer  a  vege- 
table diet.  Thus  Mungo  Park  speaks  of  certain  tribes 
in  Southwestern  Africa,  who  never  take  salt  by  any 
chance,  and  adds  that  even  Europeans,  travelling  in  their 
country,  never  feel  the  want  of  it.  The  same  disregard 
prevails  in  the  colds  of  Siberia,  where  the  peoples  of 
whole  districts  eat  their  food  without  a  particle  of  salt. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  are  Indian  tribes,  true  vegeta- 
rians, who  consume  it  in  large  quantities,  so  that  the 
children  are  seen  sucking  pieces  of  salt  like  sugar.  In 
certain  portions  of  Africa,  he  is  deemed  a  rich  man  who 
can  afford  eating  salt  with  his  food ;  in  the  mountains  of 
the  South,  small  pieces  of  it  circulate  as  money,  and  on 
the  Gold  Coast  a  handful  of  salt  will  purchase  two  ser- 
viceable slaves. 


A  PINCH  OF  SALT.  175 

A  nicer  distinction,  yet,  is  the  well-established  fact, 
that  the  active  races  require  salt  more  imperatively  than 
the  passive  races ;  and  this,  in  connection  with  the  re- 
fined instincts  of  the  body,  explains,  no  doubt,  the  start- 
ling difference  between  the  Gaucho  of  South  America, 
who  hardly  knows  what  salt  is,  and  the  intelligent  son 
of  European  races,  who  could  not  live  a  fortnight  with- 
out his  accustomed  supply. 

How  wonderful,  then,  that  the  presence  of  "  a  pinch 
of  salt,"  a  thing  of  no  value  and  hardly  noticed  by  mil- 
lions of  us,  should  be  the  condition  of  animal  and  vege- 
table life  on  our  earth  !  Truly,  not  only  is  man  fearfully 
and  wonderfully  made,  that  his  physical  life  and  the  ac- 
tivity of  his  heaven-born  mind  should  depend  on  the  lit- 
tle white  crystal,  but  great  are  the  works  and  wondrous 
is  the  wisdom  of  Him,  who,  from  His  throne  on  high,  or- 
ders alike  the  heavenly  bodies  in  their  unmeasured  space, 
and  the  invisible  grain  of  salt  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth 
and  the  deep  of  the  sea. 


vn. 


MINE     OYSTER 


Oh  sea,  old  sea,  who  yet  knows  half 
Of  thy  wonders  or  thy  pride  ? 


TTTHEN"  you  visit  the  famous  old  town  of  La  Rochelle, 
with  its  Huguenot  memories  and  its  countless  his- 
toric associations  from  the  days  of  the  great  Louis  to  the 
closing  scene  in  the  Napoleonic  drama,  you  are  most 
likely  invited  to  take  a  peep  at  the  sea-farms,  which  are 
the  pride  and  the  honor  of  that  harbor.  You  push  out 
with  rapid  stroke  or  spread  a  picturesque  but  useful 
little  sail  into  "  the  sea,  the  open  sea,"  you  just  begin  to 
feel  the  swell  of  the  billows,  and  then  you  enter  a  rough 
enclosure  formed  of  huge  blocks  of  stone,  and  are  bid  to 
gaze  into  the  depths,  lighted  up  by  a  warm  southern 
sun,  and  to  look  at  the  living  things  innumerable  which 
there  find  a  home  in  the  mighty  waters.  There,  near 
the  island  of  Rhe,  you  will  be  introduced  to  the  new 
sea-farms  of  our  day,  where  not  many  years  ago  a  row  of 
enormous  and  unproductive  mud-banks  stretched  out 
more  than  four  leagues  long,  and  where  now,  by  a  rnira- 


MINE  OYSTER.  177 

cle  of  enterprise  and  energy,  some  six  thousand  fisher- 
men may  be  seen,  as  busy  in  their  parks  and  claires  as 
market-gardeners  in  their  strawberry-beds.  You  ask 
what  gives  this  multitude  of  men  their  lucrative  occupa- 
tion, and  adds  millions  every  year  to  the  revenue  of  the 
region  around,  and  you  learn  with  astonishment  that  it 
is  a  scheme,  first  introduced  by  a  stone-mason  with  the 
curious  name  of  Beef,  to  raise  oysters  ! 

If  you  have  read  your  classics  well,  you  may  remem- 
ber, at  the  mention  of  the  dainty  shell-fish,  that  there 
was  in  Rome  a  man  famous  for  the  same  bold  under- 
taking, who  also  bore  a  name  of  quaintest  meaning. 
This  was  Sergius  Aurata,  so  called  because  of  the  num- 
ber of  gold  rings  he  loved  to  wear,  as  some  said,  or, 
according  to  others,  because  he  was  passionately  fond 
of  gold-fish.  He  seems  to  have  liked  shell-fish  even 
better,  however,  for  he  was  the  first  to  transport  oysters 
from  their  birthplace  on  the  coast  to 'the  Lucrine  Lake, 
where  they  were  cleaned  by  the  purer  waters  and  fat- 
tened for  the  table,  retaining  their  own  native  juices,  as 
Pliny  tells  us,  and  acquiring  the  flavor  of  their  new 
home.  He  must  have  been  a  pleasant  man  to  deal  with, 
thanks  probably  to  his  intimacy  with  the  delicate  dish,  for 
Cicero  sings  not  only  the  praises  of  his  enormous  wealth, 
but  calls  him  also  a  most  pleasant  and  "  delicious  "  per- 
son. To  these  attractive  qualities  he  seems  to  have 
added  great  cleverness,  for  he  was  at  all  times  able  to 

supply  the  tables  of  Roman  epicures  with  their  favorite 
8* 


178  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

natives  from  his  own  park ;  and  so  great  was  his  renown 
for  ingenuity,  that  when  he  was  sued  in  the  courts  and 
threatened  to  have  an  injunction  put  upon  his  trade,  his 
advocate  said  defiantly,  that  if  his  client  was  prevented 
from  rearing  oysters  in  the  lake,  he  would  grow  them 
upon  the  roof  of  his  house. 

They  will,  in  all  probability,  present  you  with  an  oyster, 
and  ask  you  to  taste  its  flavor.  Like  all  of  us,  you  look 
upon  it  simply  as  a  delicacy,  good  to  eat ;  you  open  the 
creature's  rough  and  unsightly  shell,  and  swallow  the 
delicate  morsel  to  satisfy  your  craving  appetite  and  to 
please  your  palate.  But  even  the  most  refined  and  cul- 
tivated of  oyster-eaters  takes  little  note  of  the  curious 
intricacies  of  its  organization,  and  knows  nothing,  nor 
cares  to  know,  of  its  wisely  contrived  network  of  nerves 
and  tiny  blood-vessels.  In  fact,  men  generally  clip  its 
beard,  that  wondrous  membrane  of  strange  and  curious 
mechanism,  by  which  the  creature  breathes,  as  thought- 
lessly as  they  shave  their  own,  and  gulp  down  the  lus- 
cious substance,  unmindful  that  they  are  devouring  a 
body  endowed  with  organs  which  all  the  science  and  gen- 
ius of  man  has  hardly  yet  been  able  to  know  and  to  ad- 
mire, and  which  no  power  but  that  of  the  Most  High 
could  ever  devise  and  send  forth  into  life.  They  bolt 
the  living  carcass,  and  decline  being  bothered  and  bored 
in  the  act  of  cannibalism  by  the  ill-timed  and  impertinent 
interruptions  of  science.  And  yet  they  are  not  the  worst ; 
for  if  Lucian  already  ridiculed  the  philosophers  who  spent 


MINE  OYSTER.  179 

their  lives  inquiring  into  the  souls  of  oysters,  such  wise- 
acres were  respectable,  and  the  man  who  eats  the  oyster 
with  gratitude  is  at  least  excusable,  when  compared  with 
those  who  care  neither  for  the  oyster's  soul  nor  its  body, 
but  concentrate  all  their  faculties  on  the  shell.  The  sad 
conchologist  eviscerates  the  oyster  as  earnestly  and  as 
gloatingly  as  the  veriest  Dando,  but  alas  !  he  flings  the 
soft  and  savory  substance  from  him,  and  delights  in  the 
hard  and  unprofitable  covering.  His  only  pleasure  is  to 
count  all  the  little  waves  and  scales  and  ribs,  ill-shapen 
and  sad-colored  as  they  seem  to  others,  and  he  thinks  not 
of  the  living  body  within,  as  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made  as  his  own. 

Whilst,  however,  to  the  mass  of  men  the  oyster  may 
be  nothing  more  than  a  rude  and  sportive  device  of 
Nature,  others,  fortunately,  have  learnt  to  spell  and  to 
read,  to  peruse  and  to  study  the  great  Bible  of  Nature, 
in  which  this  shell  also  is  an  humble  letter,  and  they 
have  found  out  that  the  device  is  a  sign  pregnant  with 
suggestive  meaning,  carrying  them  onward  and  upward 
to  other  forms  higher  in  the  scale  of  beings,  and  leading 
them  thus,  with  all  things  created,  from  Nature  up  to 
Nature's  God.  But,  to  share  in  their  joys  and  to  receive 
like  rewards  for  our  labor,  we  must  first  learn  to  ap- 
proach all  that  was  made  with  the  reverence  due  to  the 
majesty  of  its  Maker,  and  to  be  able  to  see  half-hidden 
grandeur  in  the  minutest  object,  and  veiled  beauty  in 
the  most  ungainly  creature.  We  must  learn  to  estimate 


180  WCXNDEKS    OF  THE   DEEP. 

each  thing  not  carnally  only,  by  its  use  and  its  pleasant- 
ness to  our  senses,  but  spiritually  also,  by  the  amount  of 
Divine  thought  which  it  reveals  to  our  mind,  believing 
that  every  pebble  holds  a  treasure,  every  bud  a  revela- 
tion. With  such  a  spirit  we  shall  soon  find  wonders  in 
every  insect,  sublimity  in  the  tiny  world  of  a  pool,  the 
clearly-written  records  of  past  ages  in  a  stone,  and 
boundless  fertility  of  thought  as  of  life  upon  the  barren 
sea-shore. 

Even  the  life  of  a  poor,  silent  shellfish,  once  reputed 
the  dullest  and  most  inert  of  all  animals,  will  then  be 
found  to  have  its  interest  and  its  romance.  In  vain  did 
Plato  already  assign,  in  his  transmigration  of  souls,  peo- 
ple who,  as  men,  were  thoroughly  ignorant  and  without 
thought,  to  oysters  thereafter,  and  speak  elsewhere  of 
the  soul  being  fettered  to  the  body  like  an  oyster  to  its 
shell ;  in  vain  does  Yirey,  in  our  time,  call  them  the  poor 
and  afflicted  among  the  beings  of  creation,  who  seem  to 
solicit  the  pity  of  happier  animals — they  are,  as  we  shall 
see,  beautifully  made,  capable  of  enjoying  much  happi- 
ness, and  susceptible  of  being  taught  a  lesson,  which 
most  of  us  proud  men  have  never  been  able  to  acquire. 

Their  life,  usually  pictured  as  one  of  utter  helplessness 
and  unbroken  seclusion,  is  by  no  means  spent  in  unvary- 
ing repose.  At  the  proper  time,  in  the  spring  of  the 
year,  when  all  Nature  is  full  of  tender  love  and  restless 
activity,  the  mother-oyster  also  is  visited  by  the  ruling 
passion,  and  "  the  icy  bosoms  feel  the  secret  fire."  Soon 


OYSTER.  181 

after,  they  are  seen  to  contain  a  large  quantity  of  milk- 
white  fluid,  which  the  microscope  shows  us  to  consist  of 
almost  invisible  eggs  and  milt,  lying  snugly  side  by  side 
in  the  same  shell.  Unlike  most  marine  animals,  however, 
the  oyster  does  not  heartlessly  abandon  its  spawn  and 
leave  it  to  the  mercy  of  winds  and  waves ;  but  from  the 
ovary  the  eggs  pass  into  the  sheltering  folds  of  the  man- 
tle, where  they  remain  for  some  time.  Here  they  are 
surrounded  by  a  nutritious  substance,  which  serves  to 
sustain  them  as  the  white  of  an  egg  supports  the  young 
chicken.  After  a  while  the  whitish  mass  thickens,  and 
oysters  in  this  state  are  called  "milky,"  because  the 
mass  of  eggs  resembles  thick  cream  in  consistency  and 
color.  The  latter  turns  into  yellow,  then  into  darker 
brown,  and  the  eggs  are  hatched !  Suddenly  the  mother 
opens  the  shell;  a  dense  mist  is  spread  all  around,  and 
the  young  brood  scatters  far  and  wide. 

Upon  their  first  appearance  in  their  new  career,  they 
are  all  life  and  motion,  flitting  about  in  the  sea  as  gayly 
and  lightly  as  the  butterfly  roams  from  flower  to  flower, 
or  the  swallow  skims  through  the  air.  They  are  odd 
little  cherubs,  consisting,  like  the  angels  of  old  masters, 
of  nothing  but  a  couple  of  wing-like  lobes  on  both  sides 
of  a  mouth  and  shoulders,  but  not  encumbered  with  a 
heavy,  awkward  body.  The  wings,  fastened  to  rudi- 
mentary shells,  are  covered  on  the  surface  with  countless 
little  hairs,  which  move  incessantly  up  and  down,  and 
thus  enable  the  tiny  creature  to  swim  about  in  the 


182  WONDEES    OF  THE   DEEP. 

water.  Their  infancy  is  one  of  perpetual  joy  and  viva- 
city ;  they  skip  to  and  fro  as  if  in  mockery  of  their  heavy 
and  immovable  parents.  They  do  not  go  far  from  her, 
however,  and  the  time  of  their  joy  is  in  their  life,  as  in 
ours,  but  brief,  and  soon  at  an  end.  After  a  day  or  two 
they  seem  to  have  sown  their  wild  oats,  and  if  luck  has 
favored  them  so  as  to  escape  the  thousand  voracious 
enemies  that  lie  everywhere  in  wait  or  prowl  about  to 
prey  upon  their  youth  and  want  of  experience,  they 
finally  settle  down  upon  some  suitable  resting-place,  a 
stone  or  a  branch,  and  become  steady,  domestic  oysters. 
But  how  few  of  them  reach  the  goal !  When  they  start 
from  their  mother's  safe  home,  they  count  nearly  a  mil- 
lion ;  before  they  can  find  a  new  habitation,  at  least'nine- 
tenths  of  their  number  have  perished  ! 

After  they  have  attached  themselves  by  means  of  a 
glutinous  substance,  with  which  provident  Nature  has  en- 
dowed them,  to  some  permanent  place  on  what  is  called  a 
good  spatting-ground,  the  little  wings,  now  useless,  gradu- 
ally dwindle  and  shrink,  until  they  disappear,  like  the  tail 
of  a  tadpole  when  it  changes  into  the  full-grown  frog. 
Then  they  begin  to  grow,  slowly,  like  all  good  things  of 
this  earth,  from  the  size  of  a  pin's  head,  at  two  weeks,  to 
that  of  a  pea,  at  three  months ;  when  they  are  a  year  old 
they  are  perhaps  as  large  as  a  small  lady's-watch,  and  at 
the  age  of  five  years  they  are  in  their  prime.  The  shell 
remains  frail  and  tender  until  they  reach  the  size  of  that 
rare  coin,  an  American  dollar,  but  is  hard  and  complete 


MINE  OYSTEK.  183 

when  they  become  fit  for  the  table,  which  is  in  their 
fourth  year.  At  that  time  they  are  rudely  torn  from  their 
native  bed  by  terrible  iron  prongs,  to  which  they  yield 
with  philosophic  resignation,  and  are  carried  unresisting 
to  busy  cities  and  the  hum  of  crowds.  If  they  should 
escape  the  gluttony  of  man,  they  die  at  the  appointed 
time,  leaving  their  shell,  thickened  by  old  age,  and 
adorned  with  rings  which  show  their  years  like  the  rings 
of  a  tree,  to  serve  as  a  monument  for  times  to  come,  and 
to  add,  with  millions  of  their  kind,  a  new  layer  to  the 
crust  of  the  earth. 

Such  is  their  life,  simple  and  unromantic,  but  by  no 
means  as  void  of  enjoyment  as  we  are  apt  to  imagine. 
There  are  countless  sneers  at  the  poor  immovable  oys- 
ter to  be  found  in  poet  and  prose  writers,  as  if  to  be 
in  perpetual  motion  was  to  be  the  perfection  of  happi- 
ness. The  oyster  has  its  time  of  merry  wandering,  when 
it  is  young ;  but  it  remembers,  by  times,  that  a  rolling 
stone  gathers  no  moss,  and  settles  down  quietly  in  its 
cool,  pleasant  home.  We  are  so  used  to  roam  over  the 
earth  by  rail  and  by  steam,  that  we  are  apt  to  forget 
how  Cain's  curse  was  that  he  should  be  a  fugitive  and  a 
vagabond  all  of  his  life  !  We  learn  a  different  lesson  from 
the  great  Kant,  whose  philosophy  DeQuincey  praises 
above  all  ancient  and  modern  wisdom,  and  who  yet,  never 
for  a  day,  left  his  native  town  on  the  Baltic,  and  from 
thence  wielded  the  lever  that  moved  a  world  of  minds  ; 
or  from  Burns,  who  said  once  that  he  envied  only  two 


184  WONDEBS    OP   THE   DEEP. 

beings  in  this  world — a  wild  horse  roaming  freely  over  the 
steppes  of  Asia,  and  an  oyster  on  a  lonely  rock  in  the 
ocean — the  former  had  no  wish  it  could  not  gratify,  the 
latter  knew  no  wish  and  no  fear.  Poor  Burns  preferred 
to  lead  the  life  of  the  horse,  and  we  all  know  what  came 
of  it.  Others  have  chosen  the  better  part,  and  followed 
the  example  of  the  oyster,  either  withdrawing  with  stoic 
heroism  into  their  shell,  on  which  all  the  storms  of  fate 
could  make  no  impression,  or  travelling  sadly  from  Baby- 
lon to  Jerusalem,  from  the  wicked  world  and  its  tem- 
pest-tossed waves  into  the  quiet  convent,  the  peaceful 
haven  on  earth. 

An  oyster-bed  in  the  sunny  sea  is  the  concentration  of 
undisturbed  happiness.  The  countless  creatures  congre- 
gated there  may  seem  to  be  dormant,  but  we  are  sure  they 
lead,  each,  the  beatified  existence  of  an  epicurean  god. 
The  world  without  does  not  trouble  them ;  its  cares  and 
joys,  its  storms  and  calms,  its  passions  and  sins,  are  all 
indifferent  to  the  unheeding  oyster.  Apparently  unob- 
servant of  what  passes  around,  its  whole  soul  is  con- 
centrated in  itself,  and  like  the  sublime  sage  of  the 
East,  in  his  one  word  Cm,  the  oyster  finds  bliss  in 
simple  existence.  And  yet  it  does  not  enjoy  itself 
sluggishly  or  apathetically;  its  pleasures  are  neither 
few  nor  unvaried,  for  its  body  is  throbbing  with  life 
and  a  thousand  sources  of  enjoyment.  The  perform 
ance  of  every  function  with  which  the  Creator  has  en 
dowed  them — and  we  know  not  yet  half  their  number 


MINE  OYSTEK.  185 

brings  with  it  as  much  happiness  as  they  are  capable  of 
enjoying. 

The  mighty  ocean  itself  is  subservient  to  their  pleasure, 
and  its  rolling  waves  waft  ever  fresh  and  varied  food 
within  their  reach.  They  have  no  care  for  the  morning, 
for  He  who  feeds  the  young  lions  provides  an  abundance 
for  their  wants ;  they  need  no  effort,  no  labor,  for  the  flow 
of  the  current  brings  the  food  to  their  very  doors.  Be- 
sides, each  atom  of  water  that  comes  in  contact  with  their 
delicate,  sensitive  gills,  sets  free  its  imprisoned  air  to 
freshen  and  invigorate  their  pellucid  blood.  Nor  can 
we  doubt  that  the  gentle  agitation  of  the  water  as  it 
flows  around  them,  the  equal  temperature  of  the  ocean, 
varying  only  from  one  degree  of  pleasantness  to  another, 
the  act  of  imbibing  the  fluid  and  softly  expelling  again 
what  is  not  required  for  breathing,  that  all  these  changes, 
unceasingly  affecting  their  tender  substance,  afford  them 
both  wholesome  occupation  and  cheerful  amusement.  We 
little  suspect,  when  looking  at  the  rough  shell  and  the 
shapeless  mass  within,  how  beautiful  the  structure  of  the 
animal  is,  and  at  how  many  countless  points  it  is  suscep- 
tible to  influences  from  the  outer  world.  But  if  we  put 
an  oyster  into  a  vivarium,  and  then  aid  our  feeble  sight 
by  the  inventions  of  science,  we  are  struck  at  once  by  the 
millions  of  tiny  hairs,  cilia,  which  now  are  seen  to  vibrate 
incessantly,  and  to  keep  time  most  marvellously,  as  they 
beat  on  every  fibre  of  each  fringing  leaflet.  Even  the 
very  imperfect  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  great 


1  SO  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

Leeuwenhoeck  made  him  exclaim  with  amazement :  "The 
motion  I  saw  was  so  incredibly  great,  that  I  could  not  be 
satisfied  with  the  spectacle,  and  it  is  not  in  the  mind  of 
man  to  conceive  all  the  motion  which  I  beheld  within  the 
compass  of  a  grain  of  sand  ; "  and  yet  his  untrained  eye 
saw  but  a  tithe  of  what  is  now  known  to  careful  observ- 
ers !  Well  may  we  marvel,  and  adore  the  sublime  good- 
ness which  devised  all  this  elaborate  and  inimitable  con- 
trivance for  the  well-being  of  a  despised  shellfish. 

As  the  oyster  has  a  mouth,  that  also  must  be  a  source 
of  enjoyment,  although  its  suspicious  nearness  to  the 
stomach  deprives  the  mollusc,  in  all  probability,  of  that 
enjoyment  which  the  passage  along  the  gullet  affords  to 
the  gourmand  among  ourselves, — so  that  one  of  them 
wished  it  could  be  lengthened  out  into  a  mile.  The 
oyster,  however,  has  an  appetite,  and  no  doubt  also  its 
own  power  of  appreciating  the  varied  provisions  with 
which  it  is  continually  supplied,  and  which  are  taken  im- 
partially from  the  animal  as  well  as  from  the  vegetable 
kingdom.  It  has  its  nervous  system,  moreover,  very 
simple  as  far  as  we  know,  but  connected  with  the  ovarium, 
and  thus  affording  the  pleasant  sensations  of  love ;  the 
mantle,  in  whose  folds  its  young  are  so  tenderly  kept  for 
a  long  time ;  and  the  heart  itself,  with  its  two  cham- 
bers and  its  gentle  pulsations,  showing  clearly  that  it 
feels  and  enjoys,  though  it  may  have  but  obscure  sensi- 
bilities and  limited  instincts.  Then  there  are  still  other 
portions  of  its  frame,  which  the  careless  and  the  ignorant 


MINE  OYSTER.  187 

simply  declare  useless,  because  they  cannot  at  once  see 
what  essential  purpose  of  life  they  are  made  to  serve,  and 
because  they  might  apparently  be  omitted  without  dis- 
turbing the  course  of  daily  duties.  But  as  they  are  never 
found  missing,  and  as  we  now  know  that  nothing  in  created 
beings  is  the  result  of  chance,  we  may  safely  assume  that 
they  are  symbols  of  organs  to  be  more  fully  developed 
in  animals  of  higher  perfection — anticipations,  it  may  be, 
of  limbs  and  senses  given  to  other  creations,  and  badges 
of  the  relationship  which  exists  between  these  lower  and 
despised  beings,  and  man  himself  in  all  his  sublime 
strength  and  beauty. 

It  is  true,  the  oyster  is  not  visibly  endowed  with  other 
senses  than  taste  and  touch,  which  it  exercises  and 
enjoys  in  almost. unceasing  activity.  We  do  not  know 
that  it  ever  ceases  to  take  in  food,  and  we  can  see  dis- 
tinctly that  the  beautiful  cilia,  more  delicate  than  the 
costliest  lace  on  the  wedding-robe  of  an  aristocratic 
beauty,  shrink  and  shiver  at  the  slightest  warning,  by 
day  or  by  night.  There  is  no  outward  eye  perceptible, 
as,  in  fact,  there  is  no  head  to  which  it  might  lend  light 
and  beauty  in-  its  dark  home ;  and  yet  the  oyster  is 
exquisitely  sensitive  to  every  change  of  light,  and  finds 
in  this  susceptibility  at  least  one  means  of  protecting 
itself  against  an  enemy.  As  soon  as  the  shadow  of  a 
passing  boat  falls  upon  it  from  on  high,  and  long  before 
the  pressure  of  the  agitated  waters  can  have  reached  its 
home  on  the  rocks,  it  closes  its  shell,  unfortunately  with 


188  WONDERS  or  THE  DEEP. 

no  better  success  than  that  of  the  cunning  manoeuvre 
of  the  ostrich,  when  it  hides  its  head  under  a  bush.  The 
ear  is,  on  the  contrary,  very  fully  developed,  and  a  most 
curious  organ,  consisting  mainly  of  a  number  of  diminu- 
tive grains,  shut  up  in  a  transparent  prison,  and  there 
dancing  in  perpetual  motion,  which  changes  with  every 
sound  that  strikes  upon  the  outer  walls.  Here,  then,  is 
a  new  source  of  enjoyment,  and  the  thousand  subdued 
notes  of  the  great  ocean  may  have  their  melodies 
unknown  to  human  ears,  but  appreciated  by  the  dwel- 
lers in  the  vasty  deep. 

In  spite  of  these  organs,  and  the  undoubted  fact  that 
oysters  have  senses  and  various  sources  of  happiness, 
men  have  generally  believed  them  to  be  very  imperfect 
beings  after  all,  and  fit  only  to  be  mentioned  among  the 
lowest  of  created  beings.  But  "  there  is  a  philosophy  in 
shellfish,  and  above  their  jackets,"  in  more  senses  than 
one,  and  whilst  we  have  seen  that  they  are  endowed,  in 
their  own  peculiar  way,  with  sufficient  acuteness  and 
sensibility  to  make  their  so-called  instinctive  proceedings 
often  very  surprising,  there  are  men,  who  know  them  well, 
claiming  for  them  a  certain  degree  of  intelligence  and 
thoughtful  action.  In  fact,  utterly  helpless  and  thought- 
less molluscs  as  they  seem  to  be,  they  have  proved  them- 
selves capable  of  learning  that  hardest  lesson  which  man 
has  to  acquire  in  the  world — to  keep  their  mouth  shut  at 
the  proper  time  !  The  manner  in  which  they  came  first 
to  be  trained  in  this  rare  accomplishment  was  this : 


MINE  OYSTER.  189 

There  are  large  establishments  on  the  coast  of  Calva- 
dos, like  those  near  La  Rochelle,  where  oysters  are  kept 
to  be  cleaned  and  fattened  for  the  market.  These  artifi- 
cial beds  are  constructed  between  tide-marks,  and  their 
denizens,  accustomed  to  spend  the  greater  part  of  the 
twenty-four  hours  under  water,  open  their  valves  and 
allow  the  waves  to  come  in,  when  so  situated,  but  close 
them  firmly  when  the  receding  tide  leaves  them  exposed. 
Thus  they  get  gradually  used  to  these  alternations  of  sub- 
mersion and  exposure,  and  the  practice  of  opening  and 
closing  the  shell  becomes  a  regular  habit.  After  a  few 
years'  residence  here,  they  are  ready  to  be  carried  to 
Paris;  and  as  the  distance  is  great,  even  by  rail,  this 
habit  of  gaping  at  a  certain  hour  would  insure  their  de- 
struction, as  the  oyster  can  as  little  live  without  its  sup- 
ply of  air,  which  it  derives  from  the  sea-water,  as  we  our- 
selves. The  French  owners  of  these  parks,  therefore, 
undertook  to  train  them  to  keep  their  valves  shut  in 
order  to  avert  the  evil.  Each  batch  of  oysters  intended 
to  make  the  journey  to  Paris,  is  now  subjected  to  a  pre- 
liminary exercise  in  keeping  close  even  at  such  hours,  at 
which  the  tide  is  in,  by  giving  them  at  the  right  time  a 
slight  blow,  which  instinctively  closes  the  door.  The 
molluscs  learn,  after  a  while,  to  do  so  whenever  they  are 
uncovered  by  sea-water ;  and  when  the  time  for  the  jour- 
ney arrives,  they  are  tapped,  and  quietly  close  the 
shells,  keep  the  gills  moist  with  the  water  within,  and 
arrive  safely  and  lively  in  the  great  capital.  Thus  they 


190  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

prove  themselves  capable  of  understanding  and  profit- 
ing by  a  lesson,  and  are  enabled  to  arrive  in  the  metropo- 
lis like  polished  citizens  of  the  Empire,  and  not  like  gap- 
ing rustics,  with  their  mouths  wide  open. 

The  mollusc  is,  moreover,  by  no  means  so  intensely 
selfish,  that  all  the  joys  and  pleasures  connected  with  its 
existence  should  be  strictly  confined  to  its  own  secret 
life.  In  building  up  its  house,  for  instance,  it  does  not 
labor  for  itself  alone.  We  cannot  yet  answer  the  ques- 
tion, which  the  fool  asked  of  King  Lear,  how  the  oyster 
built  its  shell,  but  we  can  see  with  deep  interest  how 
varied  its  colors  and  how  perfect  its  form.  The  upper 
part  is  generally  raised — the  oyster  of  Holstein  alone  has 
a  concave  top,  having  caved  in,  as  the  poor  people  say, 
when  the  Prussians  took  possession  of  the  country — the 
lower  part  is  flatter,  only  deep  enough  to  hold  some 
water,  and  both  valves  are  movable  by  means  of  a  power- 
ful muscle,  which  holds  the  door  more  strongly  than  the 
best  of  our  locks  or  latches.  The  outside  varies  accord- 
ing to  the  locality  where  the  oyster  grows :  it  is  dark 
on  black,  muddy  bottoms ;  the  Spanish  oyster  is  dressed 
in  red,  the  Illyrian  has  a  brown  armor  to  protect  its 
dingy  body,  the  favorite  of  the  Parisians  is  green  with- 
out and  within,  and  the  natives  of  the  Red  Sea  shine 
after  the  fashion  of  the  Orient,  in  all  the  colors  of  the 
rainbow.  At  night  the  shell  emits  a  dim,  sulphurous 
light,  arising  from  a  variety  of  microscopic  algae,  which 
enjoy  their  existence  as  parasites  of  the  oyster.  Nor  are 


MINE  OYSTER.  191 

the  brilliant  lustre  and  the  gleaming  iridescence  of  the 
inner  lining  of  the  shell  destined  to  remain  hid  forever  in 
the  depths  of  the  ocean.  The  nacreous  shells,  which  fur- 
nish our  mother-of-pearl,  belong  to  a  variety  of  oysters, 
and  are  eagerly  sought  for,  wherever  they  can  be  pro- 
cured in  sufficient  quantities,  forming  an  article  of  con- 
siderable importance  in  trade.  Those  of  the  tropics  con- 
tain, however,  still  more  precious  treasures,  for  they 
change  the  luckless  grain  of  sand  or  unproductive  egg 
into  costly  pearls,  and  teach  us  the  great  lesson,  that  we 
also  should  endeavor  to  treat  our  troubles  in  like  man- 
ner, and  convert  our  secret  cankers,  by  help  from  on 
high,  into  pearls  of  great  value. 

"  On  some  far-distant  shores, 
There  are  who  seek  the  oyster  for  the  pearl 
She  sometimes  brings  with  her,  a  priceless  dower- 
But  Dando  only  sought  her  for  herself." 

And  Dando  was  right;  for  what  are  all  the  beauties 
of  the  shell,  and  all  the  charms  of  the  rare  pearl,  to  the 
luscious  food  and  the  certain  health  promised  to  the 
lover  of  oysters  by  the  inside  ?  Much  has  been  said  in 
comic  wonder  and  half-serious  admiration  of  the  man 
who  first  ventured  to  eat  an  oyster.  A  quaint  old  Ger- 
man writer,  Lentilius,  said  of  the  mollusc  that  it  was  "  an 
animal  of  horrid  and  nauseous  appearance,  whether  you 
look  at  it  shut  up  in  its  shell  or  open,  so  that  bold  must 
have  been  the  man  who  first  raised  it  to  his  lips."  The 
popular  legend  has  it,  that  a  man,  walking  one  day  by  the 


192  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

side  of  the  sea  "  with  its  many  voices,"  picked  up  one  of 
these  savory  bivalves  just  as  it  was  in  the  act  of  gaping. 
Observing  the  extreme  smoothness  of  the  sides  within,  he 
insinuated  his  finger  to  feel  the  shining  surface,  when 
suddenly  they  closed  upon  him  with  a  sensation  far  less 
pleasant  than  he  had  expected.  The  prompt  withdrawal 
of  the  finger  was  hardly  a  more  natural  movement  than 
his  bringing  it  to  his  mouth,  by  that  unfailing  instinct 
which  comes  to  us  in  early  childhood.  In  this  instance 
the  result  was  fortunate  in  the  extreme.  The  happy 
owner  of  the  injured  finger  tasted  for  the  first  time  the 
delicious  juice  of  an  oyster,  as  the  Chinaman  in  Elia's 
Essay,  having  burnt  his  finger,  first  tasted  Cracklin. 
The  savor  was  superb,  and  he  had  made  a  great  dis- 
covery ;  he  picked  up  the  oyster,  forced  open  the  shell, 
banqueted  upon  the  contents,  and  soon  brought  the 
mollusc  into  fashion — a  fashion  which,  unlike  all  others, 
has  never  gone  and  never  will  go  out  again.  To  ascribe 
to  the  lucky  man  wonderful  courage,  is  a  vulgar  error; 
he  deserves  admiration,  on  the  contrary,  for  his  highly 
sensitive  and  exquisite  taste,  and  his  prophetic  apprecia- 
tion of  a  dainty,  as  he  saw  the  tempting  morsel  lie  all 
succulent  upon  its  own  plate  in  its  own  delicious  sauce. 
We  can  sympathize  with  the  regret  he  must  have  felt,  in 
common  with  all  oyster-eaters,  when  gazing  upon  the 
entombed  remains  of  millions  of  well-fed  and  elegantly 
shaped  oysters,  which  geologists  point  out  to  us  in  the 
Eocene  formation.  We  can  imagine,  with  Mr.  Forbes, 


MINE  OYSTER.  193 

how  lie  would  chase  "  a  pearly  tear  "  away,  as  he  calls  to 
mind  how  all  these  delicious  beings  came  into  the  world 
and  vanished  to  so  little  purpose. 

Even  when  man  and  oyster  were  first  brought  in  con- 
tact, they  do  not  seem  to  have  taken  kindly  to  each 
other ;  at  least,  the  silence  of  the  Old  Testament  leads  to 
the  idea  that  to  the  Hebrews  the  shellfish  was  forbidden 
as  one  of  the  abominable  beings.  The  ancient  Greeks 
were  far  wiser  in  their  generation,  and  enjoyed  them 
heartily,  but  they  deserve  no  mercy  for  the  vile  use  they 
made  of  the  outer  shell.  It  was  black  ingratitude  all 
around ;  for  after  having  feasted  upon  the  delicious  oys- 
ters of  their  waters  at  the  expense  of  some  great  patriot 
like  Aristides,  they  escaped  thanking  him  for  his  largess 
by  writing  his  name  on  the  shell,  and  banishing  him 
from  his  native  land.  How  could  men  blessed  with  lus- 
cious natives  ever  be  guilty  of  ostracism  ? 

The  Romans,  on  the  contrary,  showed  their  apprecia- 
tion of  Nature's  rich  bounties  by  the  fostering  care  with 
which  they  raised  them,  and  the  religious  fastidiousness 
with  which  they  prepared  them  for  their  enjoyment.  We 
have  seen  already  how  they  learnt  to  improve  them,  but 
they  also  took  to  importing  them  even  from  distant  Brit- 
ain, whose  natives  they  prized  above  all  others.  Unfor- 
tunately, the  gluttony  of  the  time  of  the  Caesars  affected 
their  appreciation  of  oysters  also,  and  a  Vitellius  could 
with  beastly  voracity  set  them  the  bad  example  of  eat- 
ing oysters  at  all  times  of  the  day,  and  up  to  a  round 
9 


194:  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

thousand  at  a  sitting.  To  increase  the  heniousness  of 
the  offence,  he  availed  himself,  in  order  to  make  this  pos- 
sible, of  the  abominable  fashion  prevailing  in  those  days, 
which  made  room  for  new  supplies  by  removing  the  older 
inmates  through  the  agency  of  a  peacock-feather,  tickling 
the  palate  with  great  effect.  Seneca,  who  so  admirably 
'praised  poverty  in  his  writings,  and  complained  on  the 
forum  that  he  could  not  live  comfortably  with  only  ten 
millions  of  dollars,  treated  oysters  with  the  same  du- 
plicity. The  temperate  sage  ate  a  few  hundred  every 
day,  until,  in  a  fit  of  indigestion,  and  after  having  lis- 
tened to  a  brother  philosopher,  who  inveighed  against  all 
the  follies  and  vices  of  the  times,  he  renounced  them  for- 
ever. With  the  bitterness  of  a  friend  changed  into  a  foe, 
he  turned  round  and  denounced  them  as  vile  things, 
pleasing  only  to  gluttons,  because  "  they  so  very  readily 
slipped  down  and  so  very  readily  came  up  again."  The 
cooler  Cicero,  while  confessing  his  fondness  for  them, 
claims  to  find  no  difficulty  in  abstaining  ;  but  the  poets, 
fortunately,  speak  with  more  enthusiasm.  Horace,  de- 
voted to  the  delicious  mollusc  with  his  whole  heart,  sings 
their  praise  again  and  again,  and  Juvenal  breaks  forth  in 
admiration  of  him 

"  who  could  tell 

At  the  first  bite,  if  his  oysters  fed 
On  the  Eutupian  or  the  Lucrine  bed," 

the  Rutupians  being  the  fine  natives  of  Britain,  which 
had  but  just  come  into  fashion.     The  Emperor  Trajan 


MINE  OYSTEE.  195 

was  so  fond  of  them,  that  his  famous  cook,  Apicius, 
had  to  provide  them  even  during  the  summer  months, 
and  to  send  the  master's  favorite  dish  after  him  to  Parthia, 
at  a  distance  of  many  days'  journey  from  salt-water. 
From  that  time  onward,  nearly  all  great  men  have  been 
fond  of  oysters.  Cervantes  loved  them,  and  satirized 
the  oyster-dealers  of  his  country ;  French  authors  pro- 
fessed a  like  fondness,  from  the  learned  doctors  of  the 
Sbrbonne  under  Louis  XL  down  to  the  unhappy  encyc- 
lopedists, who  were  joined  by  the  great  men  of  the 
Revolution  in  the  days  of  their  innocence.  Nor  have 
the  Parisians  degenerated  since,  for  they  still  consume 
daily  a  million.  Pope  and  Swift  shared  this  partiality 
for  oysters,  and  the  Scottish  philosophers  of  Hume's  day 
spoke  in  raptures  of  their  "whiskered  pandores,"  an 
enthusiasm  fully  appreciated  afterwards  by  Christopher 
North  and  the  shepherd. 

It  is  not  the  mere  savor,  moreover,  which  makes 
oysters  such  favorites  among  men,  but  they  have  valua- 
ble qualities  besides,  and  have  been  recommended  from 
of  old  by  physicians  of  all  countries  for  many  diseases. 
It  may  not  be  true  that  their  own  fertility  is  transferred 
to  those  who  eat  them,  as  was  fondly  and  firmly  believed 
in  former  days ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  are 
marvellously  nutritious,  very  digestible,  and  especially 
famous  for  their  effect  on  the  increased  production  of 
blood,  so  that  they  are  ofte*n  prescribed  in  cases  of 
wounds  or  after  repeated  bleedings.  Dr.  Pasquier 


196  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

recommended  them  as  curing  gout,  and  Dr.  Leroy,  by 
taking  two  dozen  every  morning,  preserved  his  youthful 
vigor  to  an  advanced  age.  We  need  not  wonder,  then, 
that  their  consumption  is  enormous,  and  nothing  can 
give  a  better  idea  of  the  quantity  brought  to  market, 
than  to  see  the  fleet  of  oyster-vessels  dredging  in  our 
great  estuaries,  or,  what  is  perhaps  even  more  impressive, 
to  pay  a  visit  to  Billingsgate,  the  one  great  fish-market 
of  the  city  of  London.  At  the  early  hour  between  four 
and  five  in  the  morning,  the  visitor  here  sees  one  of  the 
marvels  of  the  overgrown  city ;  the  immense  amount  of 
fish  of  all  kinds  which  London  grasps  by  means  of  its 
gigantic  iron  arms,  its  railways  and  its  steamers,  from 
every  sea  that  beats  against  the  island-coast,  and  brings 
here  in  one  point  together.  There  he  sees  superb  sal- 
mons, fresh  from  the  friths  and  bays  of  Scotland,  or 
from  the  fertile  Irish  seas,  floundering  about ;  delicate 
red  mullet,  all  the  way  from  Cornwall,  which  await 
being  carried  to  the  West  End ;  smelts,  with  delicate 
skins  varying  in  hue  like  an  opal,  brought  from  Holland 
in  Dutch  boats ;  pyramids  of  lobsters,  a  vast  moving 
mass  of  spiteful  claws  and  restless  feelers,  savage  at 
being  torn  from  their  clear,  cool  homes  in  Norwegian 
waters ;  and  perhaps  a  royal  sturgeon  of  colossal  dimen- 
sions, dragged  with  ropes  through  the  excited  crowd  by 
a  yelling  knot  of  men.  Among  these  there  are  heaped 
up  such  mountains  of  oysters  as  to  appal  the  inexperi- 
enced, and  down  Oyster-street,  as  it  is  called,  lie  long 


MINE  OYSTEK.  197 

lines  of  oyster-boats,  moored  side  by  side,  and  heaping 
full  of  natives  and  the  lower  kinds.  And  yet  the  rail- 
ways bring  in  even  larger  supplies,  especially  since  the 
discovery  of  a  great  natural  bed,  called  the  Mid-Channel 
Bed,  which  stretches  for  forty  miles  between  the  ports 
of  Shoreham  and  Havre,  and  has  proved,  as  the  dredging- 
ground  is  free  to  all  comers,  a  source  of  vast  wealth. 
Nor  are  private  banks  less  remarkable  for  their  extent ; 
so  that  long  years  ago  a  Mr.  Alston,  then  the  largest 
oyster-fisher  in  the  world,  could,  in  a  single  year,  send 
fifty  thousand  bushels  from  one  of  his  parks  to  London, 
and  pay  eight  hundred  pounds  metage  to  the  owners  of 
the  market.  The  whole  supply,  now,  is  stated  at  eight 
hundred  millions  a-year,  and  yet  there  is  a  pause,  at  least 
during  a  part  of 

"  those  four  sad  months,  wherein  is  mute 
That  one  mysterious  letter,  that  has  power 
To  call  the  oyster  from  the  vasty  deep." 

The  question  has  often  been  raised,  why,  if  oysters  are 
really  the  greatest  of  gastronomic  blessings,  and  life  is 
proverbially  short,  the  dainty  creature  should  not  be  eaten 
all  the  year  round.  The  prejudice,  however,  which  for- 
bids them  during  the  months  that  have  no  letter  R  in 
their  names,  is  not  altogether  unfounded.  In  May  and 
June  they  generally  spawn,  and  then  their^life's  blood  is 
essentially  changed  for  the  benefit  of  their  posterity,  and 
their  own  flesh  is  lean  and  unpalatable.  Besides,  how- 
ever productive  they  may  be,  a  conscientious  lover  of  the 


198  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

mollusc  will  hardly  reconcile  himself  to  the  barbarous 
waste  of  swallowing  with  each  living  parent  a  million  of 
promising  offspring.  In  the  next  two  months  the  heat  is 
apt  to  be  so  great  as  seriously  to  endanger  all  oysters 
that  are  not  eaten  immediately  after  they  are  taken  from 
the  water ;  and  one  spoiled  oyster  does  more  harm  than 
a  thousand  good  ones.  Hence  the  English  rarely  have 
them  brought  to  market  before  the  first  days  of  August, 
when  the  "  common  oysters  "  from  Colchester  and  Fever- 
sham  appear  gradually,  but  the  "  melting  natives  "  are 
not  seen  before  the  beginning  of  October,  reach  their 
meridian  of  perfection  at  Christmas,  and  disappear  again 
towards  the  end  of  April. 

In  the  remaining  months,  however,  they  throng  the 
markets  of  the  world,  and  then  they  are  eaten  by  old  and 
young,  by  rich  and  poor,  "  the  only  meat  which  men  eat 
alive  and  yet  account  it  not  cruelty,"  as  old  Fuller  says 
quaintly.  For  this  is  their  great  merit,  that  one  may  eat 
them  to-day,  to-morrow,  and  forever,  and  as  many  as  one 
wants,  and  yet  their  presence  hardly  makes  itself  felt, 
while  they  gratify  the  palate,  quiet  the  excitement  of 
certain  nerves  which  we  call  hunger,  and  leave  no  feeling 
of  satiety,  no  reproach,  no  remorse  for  the  following  day. 
They  are  the  true  grata  ingluvies  of  Horace.  Hence  we 
marvel  how  a"  clever  man  like  Malherbe  could  say  that 
he  knew  nothing  nobler  in  the  world  than  women  and 
melons,  and  yet,  living  as  he  did  on  the  coast  of  Nor- 
mandy, and  near  the  finest  of  oyster-banks,  forget  oys- 


MINE  OYSTER.  199 

ters  !  We  all  know  men  with  whom  women  do  not  agree, 
and  how  many  of  us  can  eat  melons  with  impunity ;  but 
who  ever  heard  of  fresh  oysters  making  themselves  at  all 
disagreeable  ?  They  can,  moreover,  be  eaten  at  all  times 
of  the  day ;  they  are  good  at  breakfast,  excellent  as  a 
prelude  to  dinner,  and  Juvenal  speaks  already  of  his  be- 
loved Venus  Ebria, 

"  Who  at  deep  midnight  on  fat  oysters  sups, 
And  froths  with  unguents  her  Falernian  cups." 

The  true  way  to  eat  them,  profitably  to  taste,  health,  and 
enjoyment,  is,  of  course,  to  eat  them  raw,  and  without 
condiment ;  for  vinegar,  pepper,  or  lemon-juice,  all  spoil 
the  natural  flavor  of  the  bivalve.  The  only  good  dress- 
ing is  its  own  gravy,  which  is  not  sea-water,  as  many 
fancy,  but  its  life's  blood,  which  it  sheds  when  the  shell 
is  violently  broken  open.  Hence  a  master  of  the  art 
says  of  all  other  ways  of  dressing  :  "  Frivolity  !  profani- 
ty !  sacrilege  !  If  after  such  treatment  they  taste  well, 
they  are  no  longer  oysters  ;  if  they  are  still  oysters,  they 
have  no  longer  any  taste ;  "  and  the  poet  adds  sagely, 
that  in  his  view  oysters  ought  to  be  eaten,  as  we  love  to 
see  white  roses, — with  the  dew  of  a  fine  summer  morning 
on  their  tender  leaves.  To  all  of  which  famous  Dr. 
Kitchener  adds,  with  refined  cruelty :  "  Those  who  wish  to 
enjoy  this  delicious  restorative  in  its  utmost  perfection, 
must  eat  it  the  moment  it  is  opened,  with  its  own  gravy 
in  the  under  shell ;  -if  not  eaten  absolutely  alive,  its  fla- 


200  WONDEKS   OF  THE   DEEP. 

vor  and  spirit  are  lost.  The  true  lover  of  an  oyster  will 
have  some  regard  for  the  feelings  of  his  little  favorite, 
and  contrive  to  detach  the  fish  from  the  shell  so  dexter- 
ously that  he  is  hardly  conscious  he  has  been  ejected 
from  his  lodging  till  he  feels  the  teeth  of  the  gourmet 
tickling  him  to  death."  Would  Dr.  Kitchener  be  very 
grateful  for  being  tickled  to  death  ? 

If  dressings  are  not  allowed,  some  drink  to  accompany 
the  mollusc  on  its  way  is  generally  considered  indispen- 
sable. Strong  wines  and  liquors  should  be  eschewed, 
although  in  this  country  whiskey  or  gin,  and  in  Germany 
and  Russia  rum,  is  taken  with  them ;  these  beverages 
simply  pickle  the  oyster  at  once,  and  deprive  it  of  its 
best  qualities  as  nutritious,  digestible  food.  Lighter 
French  wines  are  less  objectionable,  such  as  Chablis, 
Sauterne,  and  even  Moselle,  but  Port  is  said  to  turn  them 
into  stone ;  porter  and  ale,  on  the  contrary,  and  better 
still  half-and-half,  are  considered  the  true  friends  of  the 
oyster. 

The  question  as  to  how  many  may  be  eaten  at  a  time 
is  fraught  with '  great  difficulty,  for  here  men  differ  as 
well  as  doctors.  The  experienced  say  that  oysters  after 
the  fifth  or  sixth  dozen  cease  to  be  a  delight ;  specially 
favored  individuals  speak  of  seven  or  eight  as  profitable 
in  times  of  great  political  or  domestic  excitement,  when 
the  system  has  to  be  appeased  by  a  specially  cooling 
and  soothing  food.  But  Brillat  Savarin,  in  his  admirable 
book  on  Taste,  expressed  a  different  opinion.  "  It  is  well 


MINE  OYSTEE.  201 

known,"  he  says,  "  that  formerly,  under  the  Louises,  be- 
fore the  Revolution,  every  festive  meal  began  with  oys- 
ters, and  that  a  certain  number  of  guests  were  always 
found  who  did  not  rest  until  they  had  eaten  a  gross,  viz., 
twelve  dozen.  The  abbes  of  those  happy  days,  espe- 
cially, never  were  content  with  less,  and  the  chevaliers 
often  went  beyond  them.  As  I  wished  to  know  the  ex- 
act value  and  weight  of  such  a  preparation  for  a  good 
meal,  I  took  my  scales,  and  found  that  twelve  dozen 
oysters,  with  the  water  they  contained,  weighed  exactly 
three  pounds.  How  much  happier,  now,  were  these 
worthy  guests  with  such  a  weight  of  oysters  than  if  they 
had  eaten  three  pounds  of  meat,  or  even  of  poultry  !  "  A 
handsome  compliment,  surely,  to  our  friends  the  oysters, 
which  could  not  have  been  more  happily  turned  by — the 
best  of  cooks.  In  another  place  he  adds  a  remarkable 
instance  of  individual  capacity.  It  seems  that  he  acci- 
dentally fell  in,  in  1798,  with  a  certain  Laperte,  an  officer 
in  one  of  the  public  courts,  who  professed  to  be  passion- 
ately fond  of  oysters,  but  never  to  have  had,  as  he  said, 
"  his  fill "  of  them.  The  author  offered  to  give  him  that 
satisfaction,  and  invited  him  to  dine  the  next  day  at  his 
house.  The  gourmet  came,  and  Brillat  kept  him  com- 
pany up  to  the  third  dozen,  when  he  let  him  go  his 
way  unaided.  He  marched  on  bravely,  till  he  reached 
the  thirty-second  dozen,  which  he  did  in  about  an  hour, 
as  the  man  who  opened  the  oysters  was  not  very  expert. 
Brillat  became  impatient,  not  at  the  endless  capacity, 


202  "WOXDERS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

but  at  his  own  forced  inactivity,  thinking  it  both  "  pain- 
ful and  unwholesome  to  sit  at  table  without  eating,"  and 
stopped  his  valiant  guest  in  the  midst  of  his  exploit.  He 
expressed  his  regrets  that  the  Fates  had  evidently  denied 
him  the  privilege  to  let  his  friend  have  his  fill  that  day, 
and  invited  him  now  to  join  him  at  dinner.  The  guest 
assented,  and  behold!  to  the  author's  amazement,  he 
went  to  work  with  all  the  energy  and  perseverance  of  a 
man  who  had  sat  down  to  table  after  long  fasting ! 

It  is  not  impossible  that  this  happy  Laperte  may  have 
belonged  to  the  school  of  the  poet  Lainez,  in  Paris,  who 
was  asked,  after  four  hours'  active  devotion  to  an  unin- 
terrupted dinner,  if  he  had  dined  yet,  and  replied,  in- 
dignantly :  "  Do  you  imagine  my  stomach  is  endowed 
with  memory  ?  "  Whereupon  he  resumed  his  work  with 
renewed  zeal  and  increased  vigor. 

There  is  comfort  in  the  thought  that  even  in  such  ex- 
treme cases  no  man  has  yet  been  known  to  have  suffered 
seriously  because  he  loved  oysters  "  not  wisely  but  too 
well."  There  is  comfort,  also,  in  the  fact  that  all  the 
voracity  of  man  could  make  no  impression  on  the  vast 
numbers  of  oysters  which  exist  in  our  seas.  Spenser 
already  said,  it  was 

"  much  more  eath  to  tell  the  stars  on  high, 
Albe  they  endless  peem  in  estimation, 
Than  to  recount  the  sea's  posterity  ; 
So  fertile  be  the  floods  in  generations, 
So  huge  their  numbers,  and  BO  numberless  their  nations." 

Natural  beds  and  banks  of  oysters  are  found  in  all  the 


MINE  OYSTEK.  203 

seas  of  the  temperate  and  torrid  zones,  now  stretching 
out  miles  after  miles  in  all  directions,  and  now  rising  so 
high  that  ships  are  wrecked  on  their  crests.  And  thus 
it  has  been  apparently  from  time  immemorial,  for  gigan- 
tic structures,  consisting  of  fossil  oysters,  are  found  in 
many  places.  In  Berkshire,  England,  a  petrified  colony 
of  oysters  covers  more  than  six  acres  ;  in  Massachusetts 
and  Georgia  enormous  breakwaters  are  formed  between 
the  firm  land  and  the  hungry  ocean,  ramparts  twelve  to 
fifteen  feet  high,  the  lower  layers  of  course  fossil,  but 
the  upper  strata  alive,  and  affording  delicious  food  to 
the  negro  of  our  day,  as  their  forefathers  did  to  the  In- 
dians, and  perhaps  to  the  Aztecs.  On  the  west  coast  of 
this  continent  vast  surfaces  are  covered  with  fossil  oys- 
ters, which  have  been  raised  by  volcanic  action,  and  now 
tower  to  the  height  of  sixty  feet  and  more,  for  thirty 
miles  at  a  time. 

Among  the  living,  however,  there  is  as  great  a  differ- 
ence as  among  the  races  of  men.  Those  of  our  country 
are  acknowledged  jto  surpass  in  size  and  luscious  flavor 
all  others ;  and  even  English  travellers,  like  Charles  Mac- 
kay,  have  acknowledged  them  to  be  superior  to  the 
famous  Whitstables  at  home.  But  Frenchmen,  accus- 
tomed to  their  own  smaller  and  richer  oysters,  with  a 
strong  taste  of  copper,  object  to  their  inconvenient 
dimensions,  and  miss  the  metallic  flavor.  Germans 
utterly  at  sea  in  all  that  concerns  the  sea,  either  do  not 
appreciate  oysters  at  all,  or,  if  they  do,  are  enraptured 


204:  WONDEKS   OP  THE   PEEP. 

by  the  ample  provision  contained  in  each  shell  and  the 
amount  of  lager  it  requires  for  easy  conveyance.  Next 
to  our  own  come  undoubtedly  the  English  oysters,  of 
which  there  are  many  varieties,  the  best  growing  on 
submarine  rocks,  an  inferior  kind  on  sandbanks,  and  the 
coarsest  on  muddy  bottoms.  England  values  them 
largely  according  to  size,  and  sends  the  smallest  kind, 
called  Dutch-size,  over  to  Holland.  The  common  oyster 
from  the  Western  coast  is  very  large,  with  thick  shells 
and  little  meat.  The  Colchesters  go  by  the  name  of 
Middle  Ware,  and  are  larger  than  the  best  kind,  the 
Little  Natives,  reared  carefully  at  the  mouths  of  a  num- 
ber of  small  rivers  and  in  Southampton  Water.  Scot- 
land is  justly  proud  of  her  Pandores,  so  called  because 
they  are  found  near  the  salt-pans  in  the  neighborhood  of 
historic  Prestonpans,  and  caught,  it  is  said,  by  a  bit  of 
magic.  The  fishing-crews  keep  up,  while  the  dredging  is 
going  on,  a  kind  of  wild  monotonous  chant,  to  which 
they  ascribe  great  virtue,  and  sing : 

"  The  herring  loves  the  merry  moonlight, 

The  mackerel  loves  the  wind  ; 
But  the  oyster  loves  the  dredger's  song, 
For  he  comes  of  a  gentler  kind." 

Paddy  claims  for  his  Pooldoodies  of  Burra,  and  espe- 
cially for  his  Carlingfords,  that  they  are  superior  to  all 
the  world,  and  is  as  usually  correct  in  his  patriotism,  but 
mistaken  in  his  assertion.  They  are  very  fine,  however, 
with  a  dark,  almost  black  beard  and  delicious  flavor,  but 


MINE  OYSTER.  205 

not  to  be  compared  to  some  of  our  own  varieties.  The 
natives  of  England  are  largely  sent  over  to  Ostend  to 
be  cleaned  and  fattened  in  Belgian  parks,  and  then 
assume  a  perfection  almost  unsurpassed.  The  shell 
becomes  very  fine,  almost  transparent ;  the  fish  is  small, 
but  rich  and  beautifully  white,  and  bearing  to  the  best 
of  common  oysters  the  relation  that  a  well-fed  capon 
bears  to  an  ordinary  chicken.  This  is  the  oyster  which 
gourmets  prefer  to  all  others.  It  goes  from  Ostend  all 
over  Germany,  to  Russia,  and  even  to  distant  Odessa. 

French  oysters  are  limited  to  northern  seas,  the  Medi- 
terranean coast  having  none  that  are  worth  eating.  Those 
raised  at  Marennes,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  at  the 
Roches  de  Cancale,  are  the  most  famous,  though  the  whole 
coast,  from  Normandy  to  Dunkirk,  abounds  in  excellent 
kinds ;  they  are  brought,  to  the  amount  of  about  two 
hundred  millions  a  year,  to  the  Rue  Montorgueil,  which  is 
to  Paris  what  Billingsgate  is  to  London.  The  most 
striking  feature,  however,  is  the  preference  which  Pari- 
sians give  to  green  oysters,  and  the  pains  which  are  there- 
fore taken  to  produce  the  color  artificially,  by  favoring 
the  growth  of  certain  sea-algae.  These  parasitic  plants, 
when  once  introduced  into  oyster  parks,  soon  cover  the 
walls  and  rocks,  and  gradually  spread  their  transparent 
veil  over  the  molluscs  themselves.  The  adversaries — for, 
like  all  superior  things  in  this  world,  oysters,  and  espe- 
cially green  oysters,  meet  with  opposition  at  times — say 
that  the  green  matter  enters  into  the  gills  of  the  luckless 


2,06  WONDEBS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

creature,  stops  the  breathing,  and  thus  causes  dropsy. 
The  disease  makes  the  oyster  to  swell,  by  which  process 
the  texture  of  its  meat  becomes  looser,  finer,  and  more 
palatable  ;  and  epicureans  revel  in  dropsical  shellfish  as 
they  delight  in  diseased  goose-livers.  The  Baltic  has  a 
small  supply  of  the  precious  molluscs,  but  the  variety  is 
coarse  and  insipid,  probably  because  the  waters  of  that 
sea  are  not  salt  enough ;  those  of  the  Adriatic,  however, 
and  of  the  Bosphorus,  are  better,  and  in  great  demand 
during  the  long  fasts  of  the  Greek  church. 

Wherever  the  oyster,  therefore,  appears  in  sufficient 
quantities,  there  men  are  found  ready  to  consume  them 
as  fast  as  they  can  be  procured ;  but  the  poor  unselfish 
oyster  has  enemies  nearer  home,  in  its  own  native  ele- 
ment, and  close  upon  its  borders.  The  arch-enemy  is 
the  sleepy,  stupid-looking  starfish,  the  Master  Five-fingers 
of  our  boys,  who  eats  them  as  spat,  or  even  when  grown 
to  considerable  size.  These  greedy  devourers  have  the 
curious  power  of  rolling  themselves  up  and  floating 
away,  so  that  they  appear  and  vanish  again,  no  one 
knows  how.  But  all  of  a  sudden,  and  often  at  the  very 
time  when  the  sanguine  fisherman  -gets  ready  to  reap  a 
rich  harvest  from  a  well-stocked  oyster-bank,  he  finds, 
upon  coming  to  the  grounds,  that  the  foe  has  been  there 
before  him,  and  millions  of  starfishes  have  settled  down 
like  a  flock  of  wild  pigeons  on  a  field  of  wheat.  Gene- 
rally, they  prefer  the  spat  or  very  young  oysters,  which 
they  take  whole  into  their  capacious  mouths,  and  there 


MINE  OYSTER.  207 

digest  slowly.  But  how  do  these  tender,  fragile  creatures 
manage  to  get  at  the  full-grown  mollusc  in  its  impreg- 
nable fortress?  The  ancients  had  a  story,  that  they 
watched  it  till  they  found  it  incautiously  yawning,  and 
then  slyly  slipped  their  greedy  fingers  between  the  valves 
to  keep  them  open,  while  they  devoured  the  contents. 
This  is,  of  course,  a  mere  fable,  as  the  soft,  slimy  finger 
would  be  squeezed  off  in  an  instant,  even  if  the  starfish 
were  not  famous  for  falling  to  pieces  by  immediate  sui- 
cide as  soon  as  it  is  brought  into  contact  with  a  hard 
substance.  Its  murderous  assault  is  far  more  curious. 
The  first  step  in  the  process  is  for  the  enemy  to  lie  close 
upon  its  prey,  folding  its  slimy  arms  tightly  over  it,  so 
as  to  hold  itself  in  the  right  position.  Then  it  applies 
its  mouth  closely  to  the  victim,  and  as  it  cannot,  by  any 
force  of  its  own,  put  the  oyster  into  its  stomach,  it  de- 
liberately proceeds  to  put  its  stomach  into  the  oyster ! 
It  begins  slowly  but  steadily  to  push  out  this  organ 
through  the  mouth,  and  wraps  the  mollusc  in  the  folds 
of  that  capacious  bag ;  patience  always  does  its  work, 
and  in  due  time  the  hapless  native  surrenders  to  the  de- 
vourer. 

Another  enemy  shows,  if  less  originality,  at  least 
equal  perseverance.  This  is  the  whelk,  who  also  seems, 
like  the  vulture,  to  smell  its  prey  from  afar,  and  although 
endowed  with  very  slender  means  of  locomotion,  appears 
in  vast  multitudes,  when  least  expected,  on  the  oyster- 
beds  which  it  deems  ready  for  use.  It  assails  the  shell 


208  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

boldly  from  above,  and  with  marvellous  patience  drills, 
by  means  of  its  sharp  tongue,  a  hole  in  the  upper  valve, 
by  which  it  gets  at  last  fairly  inside,  and  then  enjoys  the 
dainty  food.  Mussels  come  by  myriads,  when  young, 
and  cover  the  luckless  oyster  with  a  fine,  ropy  texture, 
which  catches  mud  and  sand,  and  finally  smothers  them ; 
and  gray  mullets  appear  in  swarms,  and,  greedily  grub- 
bing, devour  whole  beds  of  well-fattened  natives.  Even 
the  elements  combine  against  the  helpless  mollusc ;  heavy 
gales  of  wind  at  times  roll  them  up  in  ridges  three  feet 
deep,  when  mud  and  seaweeds  settle  on  them  and  choke 
them  speedily ;  or  frost  and  snow  and  ice  kill  large 
numbers,  when  they  are  not  safely  sheltered  at  a  depth 
of  at  least  three  or  four  feet  of  water.  Thus  it  is,  that 
by  the  wise  provisions  of  Nature,  the  danger  of  over- 
stocking her  vast  reserves  is  avoided ;  for  wherever 
animals  multiply  their  species  at  such  enormous  rates, 
there  are,  on  the  other  side,  numerous  enemies  ever 
present  to  keep  it  down  and  to  prevent  an  undue  pre- 
ponderance. 

All  the  voracity  of  man,  however,  and  all  the  persecu- 
tion of  enemies,  does  not  destroy  enough  oysters  annually 
to  prevent  them  from  forming,  as  we  have  seen,  gigantic 
deposits  in  various  parts  of  the  globe.  For,  if  left  to 
themselves,  oysters  grow  old  and  die  a  natural  death, 
though  it  has  not  yet  been  ascertained  fully  what  age 
they  are  allowed  to  reach  in  their  solitude.  The  expert 
fisherman,  it  is  true,  can  tell  at  a  glance  and  to  a  nicety 


MINE  OYSTER.  209 

the  precise  age  of  his  flock.  He  examines  the  successive 
layers  on  the  upper  shell,  technically  called  shoots,  and 
as  each  of  them,  overlapping  the  lower,  marks  a  year,  he 
is  at  no  loss  to  ascertain  how  old  the  house  and  the 
inhabitant — for  they  are  always  of  the  same  age.  These 
layers,  it  seems,  are  regular,  and  laid  in  even  succession 
one  upon  the  other,  until  the  oyster  attains  its  maturity, 
which  is  generally  fixed  at  seven  or  eight  years;  but 
after  that  time  they  become  irregular,  are  recklessly 
piled  upon  each  other,  and  make  the  shell  look  bulky 
and  ill-shapen.  As  some  molluscs  have  been  found  with 
shells  nine  inches  thick  and  of  a  perfectly  enormous  size, 
it  is  fair  to  presume  that  the  oyster,  when  left  to  its 
natural  changes  and  unmolested,  may  reach  a  patriarchal 
age,  and  even  outlive  our  race. 

Unfortunately,  man  nowadays  rarely  allows  them  to 
pursue  the  even  tenor  of  their  life.  On  the  pretext  of 
protecting  them  against  their  powerful  enemies  and  of 
improving  their  race — pleas  not  quite  unknown  to  certain 
nations  of  our  day — they  are  taken  when  quite  young 
from  their  home,  and  brought  to  so-called  sea-farms,  where 
they  live,  safe  against  all  danger,  well  fed  and  happy, 
and  reward  the  favor  shown  them  by  increasing  at  least 
to  double  their  value.  Little  is  known  of  the  labor  and 
expense,  the  care  and  attention  bestowed  upon  the  ap- 
parently trifling  mollusc,  in  order  to  make  it  acceptable 
to  fastidious  palates  or  even  simply  fit  for  market.  First, 
the  spat,  or  fecundated  sperm,  is  stored  up  in  large  vats, 


210  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

specially  designed  for  the  purpose,  and  thus  the  immense 
quantity  of  seed-oysters  are  saved,  which  on  natural 
banks  fall  an  easy  prey  to  countless  devourers.  These 
are  sold  as  Native  Brood  to  dealers  in  the  article,  and 
conveyed  to  artificial  ponds  or  reservoirs,  called  oyster- 
parks.  These  receptacles,  which  are  often  of  vast  size, 
have  a  floor  of  clean  stone  slabs,  covered  with  fine  sand, 
on  which  the  small  oysters  are  carefully  laid  on  the  proper 
side,  and  a  little  inclined.  The  sea-water  is  made  to  en- 
ter gently,  so  as  not  to  wash  sand  into  the  shells,  which 
would  kill  them  instantly,  and  rises  and  falls  with  the 
tide  outside.  If  the  oysters  are  to  be  very  large  and  of 
light  color,  each  tide  must  bring  fresh  water ;  but  if  they 
are  to  be  delicate  and  of  finer  taste,  the  water  is  allowed 
to  remain  some  time  in  the  basins,  so  as  to  favor  the  de- 
velopment of  the  microscopic  plants,  which  are  always 
present  in  sea-water  and  largely  form  the  food  of  the 
oyster.  Here  they  are  kept  generally  three  or  four  years, 
till  they  have  reached  a  good  size  and  are  considered  fit 
for  consumption.  So  far,  their  education  has  been  left 
largely  to  Nature  ;  but  now  additional  steps  are  taken 
to  perfect  their  condition,  if  they  are  to  bring  specially 
high  prices.  They  are  stored  in  large,  shallow  vats, 
where  they  gradually  get  rid  of  the  taste  of  mud,  which 
many  still  have,  especially  when  they  come  from  beds 
and  banks  situated  at  the  mouths  of  rivers.  Here  they 
are  simply  kept  in  fresh  sea- water ;  the  method  of  fatten- 
ing them  with  oatmeal  having  been  given  up,  as  the 


MINE  OYSTER.  211 

throwing  in  of  dead  stuff  only  makes  the  water  foul  and 
the  oyster  sick,  and  because  very  fat  oysters  are  consid- 
ered, like  prize  cattle,  none  the  better  for  overfeeding. 
Such  oyster-farms  exist  now  in  large  numbers,  mainly  in 
England,  where  a  single  private  oyster-park,  near  Whit- 
stable,  is  valued  at  two  millions  of  dollars ;  and  in 
France,  where  the  Government,  true  to  its  fostering 
policy,  supports  the  enterprises  by  every  means  in  its 
power. 

When  the  poor  oyster  leaves  these  vats,  it  approaches 
its  tragic  end,  which  it  reaches  only  after  much  tribula- 
tion. The  journey  to  the  landing-place,  whether  it  be  a  pier 
in  the  river  or  a  railway-station,  is  generally  pleasant 
enough ;  they  are  transported  carefully,  travel  in  good 
company,  and  are  occasionally  refreshed  by  supplies  of 
new  sea-water.  But  when  they  arrive,  the  bad  treat- 
ment begins ;  they  are  pushed  into  baskets,  tossed  into 
barrels,  pitched  on  carts,  fortunate,  yet,  if  a  kind  hand 
brings  them  at  intervals  a  pittance  of  water.  Too  often, 
however,  the  same  hand  gives  them  a  stone  instead  of  a 
loaf,  for  the  common  error  still  prevails,  that  salt  and 
common  well-water  will  do  as  well — a  cruel  mistake, 
since  it  is  neither  the  salt  nor  the  water  which  sustains 
the  life  of  an  oyster,  but  the  abundance  of  invisible  plant- 
seeds  and  microscopic  spores  contained  in  sea-water, 
which  kitchen-salt  kills  on  the  spot.  At  last  they  reach 
their  goal :  if  handsome,  well-shaped,  and  well-flavored, 
they  are  introduced  to  the  palaces  of  the  rich  and  the 


212  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

noble,  to  give,  like  wits  and  poets,  additional  relish  to 
their  sumptuous  feasts;  but  if  sturdy,  thick  backed, 
strong-tasting  creatures,  Fate  consigns  them  to  the  capa- 
cious tubs  of  common  carters ;  they  are  dosed  with  coarse 
black  pepper  and  pungent  vinegar,  and  depart  this  life, 
partly  embalmed  after  the  manner  of  ancient  Pharaohs. 


vm. 

LIGHT   AT   SEA. 

"  The  swift-winged  arrows  of  light."— ALEXANDER  SELKIRK. 

TjlAR  out  in  the  great  harbor  of  Portsmouth,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  over  fourteen  miles  from  the  town,  there 
rises  amid  the  stormy  channel  waves,  a  group  of  rocks, 
the  dread  of  all  sailors,  and  the  scene  of  dire  disasters. 
For  more  than  two  centuries  efforts  have  been  made  to 
place  a  beacon  there,  to  warn  the  vessels  which  con- 
tinually throng  the  great  thoroughfare,  and  to  prevent 
the  further  loss  of  precious  lives,  and  not  less  than  ten 
structures  have,  one  after  the  other,  been  erected  on  the 
ill-fated  spot.  It  was  only  after  many  sad  failures  and 
bitter  disappointments  that  at  last  the  true  principles 
were  discovered  upon  which  light-houses  ought  to  be  built, 
and  the  noble  tower  of  Eddystone  could  be  raised,  one 
of  the  greatest  glories  of  England. 

The  first  of  these  experiments  was  perhaps  the  drollest 
ever  made,  and  worthy  of  its  eccentric  author.  E.  Wis- 
tanley  was  already  well  known  all  over  England  as  a 


214  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

man  of  wonderful  learning  and  unbounded  resources  of 
mind.  His  home  in  Exeter  was  looked  at  with  fear  by 
his  neighbors,  and  had  a  strange  fame  abroad.  Visitors, 
whom  curiosity  or  friendship  had  drawn  there,  came  back 
with  strange  accounts  of  slippers,  which  had  no  sooner 
been  touched  by  their  feet,  than  ghosts,  gaunt  and  grim, 
had  arisen  before  them ;  of  easy  chairs  whose  arms  had 
seized  them  as  they  sat  down,  and  held  them  with  an 
iron  gripe;  and  of  charming  bowers  in  the  trim  garden, 
which  greeted  the  thoughtless  wanderer  with  showers 
of  water.  How  he  came  to  think  of  building  his  first 
light-house,  is  not  known ;  but  he  certainly  deserves  all 
the  more  credit  for  his  humane  enterprise,  as  he  lived  in 
an  age  (1696)  when  old  women  were  still  thought  capa- 
ble of  raising  a  storm  in  the  channel  by  their  incanta- 
tions, and  the  church  thundered  anathemas  against  all 
who  dared  interfere  with  God's  own  appointed  messen- 
gers— the  winds.  The  structure  which  he  erected  at  his 
own  expense  was  as  odd  as  the  times  and  the  character 
of  the  builder.  It  had  open  galleries  running  around  the 
tower,  and  was  adorned  in  all  its  stories  with  enormous 
beams,  projecting  far  over  the  rocks,  and  intended  to 
serve  for  cranes  and  pullies.  It  resembled  more  a  Chi- 
nese pagoda,  ornamented  with  quaint  devices  and  gigan- 
tic inscriptions,  than  a  light-house  of  our  day ;  and  not 
the  least  ludicrous  feature  was  a  covered  balcony  in  one 
of  the  upper  stories,  from  which  the  benevolent  builder 
loved  to  fish  with  a  rod.  He  used,  in  the  pride  of  his 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  215 

success,  to  step  out  on  this  balcony  and  boldly  defy  the 
storm,  crying  aloud  :  "  Blow,  oh  winds  !  Rise,  oh  ocean  ! 
Break  forth,  ye  elements,  and  try  my  work !  "  The 
winds  were  not  long  in  coining,  nor  the  ocean  in  rising : 
on  the  26th  of  November,  1703,  Wistanley  had  gone  to 
his  tower  in  'order  to  superintend  some  repairs  ;  during 
the  night  a  fearful  storm  arose,  and  on  the  morrow  the 
sea  had  swallowed  up  the  tower  and  its  author. 

It  is  true  that  this  was  one  of  the  most  fearful  storms 
ever  known  in  the  Channel ;  thirteen  men-of-war  perished 
in  it,  with  1,519  souls  on  board,  and  among  them  the 
"  Mary,"  commanded  by  Admiral  Beaumont,  which  dis- 
appeared entirely  on  the  Goodwin  Sands.  This  immense 
loss  of  life,  the  injury  inflicted  on  the  trade — Bristol  lost 
150,000  pounds,  and  London  a  million — and  the  terror  it 
had  inspired  on  land  even,  made  so  deep  an  impression 
that  a  public  fast  was  ordered  by  the  authorities  to  avert 
the  wrath  of  God  by  deep  penitence.  By  one  of  those 
curious  coincidences,  which  no  doubt  occur  frequently 
but  are  noticed  only  in  rare  cases,  the  model  of  the  fa- 
mous light-house  in  the  library  of  Wistanley's  house  at 
Littlebury,  Essex,  was  thrown  down  and  broken  at  the 
same  moment  when  the  structure  itself  was  blown  down 
by  the  storm,  at  a  distance  of  over  200  miles. 

The  second  effort  was  made  by  a  remarkable  man, 
Rudgard,  a  silk  merchant  of  London,  who  had  a  natural 
talent  for  engineering,  and  who,  from  great  grief  for  the 
repeated  losses  and  a  laudable  ambition  to  become  a 


216  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

public  benefactor,  resolved  to  give  his  time  and  hi? 
money  to  the  erection  of  a  new  light-house.  With  the 
aid  of  only  two  carpenters  and  three  workmen,  he  set 
out  on  his  labor  of  love,  but,  though  as  ill  prepared  as 
his  unfortunate  predecessor,  his  plan  was  far  superior  to 
Wistanley's,  and  possessed  certain  marks  of  such  un- 
doubted genius,  that  Smeaton,  the  highest  authority  on 
such  subjects,  speaks  of  it  with  unbounded  admiration. 
Instead  of  giving  his  structure  a  number  of  corners  and 
openings,  by  which  wind  and  waves  might  attack  it, 
as  his  predecessor  had  done,  Rudgard  built  a  simple, 
solid  cone,  well  fastened  to  the  foundation,  and  present- 
ing no  hold  to  the  elements.  It  might  have  stood  to  our 
day,  if  it  had  not  been  built  in  alternate  courses  of  wood 
and  stone,  for  it  had  successfully  resisted  the  storms  of 
forty-six  years,  when  it  fell  before  a  more  dangerous 
element  even  than  air  or  water.  On  the  1st  of  November, 
1755,  when  one  of  the  watchmen  went  up  to  the  highest 
story  to  snuff  the  candles,  he  found  the  lantern  on  fire. 
He  knew  not  how  it  had  broken  out,  tried  to  extinguish 
it,  and  finding  his  efforts  unavailing,  called  upon  his  two 
comrades  to  help  him.  They  did  not  hear  him  at  once, 
and,  faithful  to  his  trust,  he  remained  at  his  post.  In 
the  meantime,  the  roof  had  begun  to  melt,  and  a  shower 
of  molten  lead  fell  upon  his  head,  his  shoulders,  and  even 
in  his  mouth ;  he  was  at  last  carried  out,  but  died  on  the 
twelfth  day  after  the  occurrence,  and  the  physician 
actually  found  a  small  piece  of  lead  in  his  stomach! 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  217 

His  companions  had  fortunately  been  able  to  escape  to  a 
neighboring  ledge  of  rocks,  from  which  they  were  res- 
cued on  the  next  day  by  fishermen  whom  the  bright 
light  had  attracted. 

The  light-house  at  Eddystone  was  farmed  out  like  all 
others,  and  this  made  it  the  interest  of  the  so-called 
owners  to  rebuild  it  quickly,  as  in  the  meantime  no  dues 
could  be  collected  from  passing  vessels.  The  absence  of 
the  light,  moreover,  caused  at  once  several  disasters,  and 
public  indignation  rose  to  a  high  pitch.  It  was  then 
that  the  great  Smeaton  was  called  in,  and  gave  it  at  once 
as  his  opinion  that  the  new  light-house  should  be  built 
of  granite.  At  first  they  were  disheartened  by  the  time 
and  the  large  capital  such  a  work  would  require,  but 
they  prudently  yielded  to  the  suggestions  of  the  great 
engineer,  and  have  been  well  rewarded  for  their  wisdom, 
for  his  noble  structure  is  still  standing,  and  proudly 
claims  the  first  rank  among  the  light-houses  of  all 
nations. 

Little  as  we  may  credit  the  stories  of  Newton's  apple 
falling  from  a  branch  overhead,  or  of  Watt's  tea-kettle 
sending  forth  clouds  of  hot  steam,  there  is  no  denying 
that  Nature  is  ever  ready  to  furnish  us  with  suggestions, 
and  that  the  careful  observer  has  no  better  teacher  than 
her.  Thus  it  was  with  Smeaton,  when  he  was  trying  to 
solve  the  great  problem  how  such  a  tower  as  he  proposed 
could  be  made  fast  to  the  rocky  foundation.  He  had 

been  in  the  habit  of  walking  over  the  flat  country  near 
10 


218  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

Plymouth,  and  of  resting  at  times  under  a  clump  of  trees 
to  enjoy  their  grateful  shade.  On  one  occasion  he  found 
that  they  had  been  torn  up  by  the  roots  during  a  fearful 
storm ;  one  only  of  the  whole  group  had  braved  the  tem- 
pest, and  stood  unharmed  in  all  the  pride  of  its  strength. 
Smeaton  examined  the  oak  which  had  shown  such  marvel- 
lous power  of  resistance,  and  he  found  the  solution  of  his 
problem.  The  light-house  was  rooted  to  the  rocks  like 
a  tree,  holding  the  ground  all  around  it  in  its  powerful 
grasp. 

The  first  stone  of  the  great  monument — for  such  it 
really  is — was  laid  on  the  15th  of  June,  1757,  and  the  last 
was  added  on  the  24th  of  August,  1759.  Arising  boldly 
from  the  bare  rocks,  famous  for  their  terrible  eddy,  stand- 
ing free  and  fearless  among  a  mass  of  white  foam  that 
continually  dashes  against  its  base,  it  presents  the  appear- 
ance of  a  single  solid  shaft.  It  looks  like  a  monolith,  so 
accurately  and  carefully  are  all  the  blocks  joined,  dove- 
tailed, and  cemented ;  and  when  the  waves  rise  and  the 
sea  washes  over  it  all,  dashing  its  foamy  crests  high  above 
the  lantern,  it  strikes  the  beholder  with  amazement  and 
wonder.  Very  different  from  the  boastful  inscriptions  of 
Wistanley  are  the  words  carved  on  Smeaton's  work :  "  Ex- 
cept the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that 
build  it,"  is  written  on  the  lowest  course,  and  the  key- 
stone above  the  lantern  bears  the  simple  words :  Laus 
Deo  !  expressive  of  his  joy  and  his  thankfulness.  While 
he  was  yet  at  work,  a  party  of  French  Corsairs,  availing 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  219 

« 

themselves  of  the  war  then  going  on  between  England 
and  France,  landed  near  the  rocks,  seized  the  workmen 
and  threw  them  into  a  French  prison.  Fortunately  Louis 
XIV.  heard  of  it,  and  immediately  ordered  their  release, 
saying  :  "  I  wage  war  against  England,  but  not  against 
mankind  !  " 

If  England  has  thus  avowedly  rendered  a  signal  service 
to  all  nations,  and  is  justly  proud  of  her  Smeaton,  through 
whose  genius  and  great  skill  this  was  accomplished,  the 
sister  kingdom  can  boast  of  her  Stevenson  and  his  great 
work  on  Bell  Rock.  About  twenty  miles  south-west  of 
Red  Head,  in  Forfarshire,  there  lies  a  reef  of  rocks  in  the 
German  ocean  which  has  cost  countless  lives,  and  is  a 
perfect  grave-yard  of  vessels.  The  reef  is  about  2,000 
yards  in  length,  and  although  the  surface  is  uncovered 
at  low  spring-tides,  the  depth  of  the  sea  at  only  a  hun- 
dred yards'  distance  from  the  rock  exceeds  three  fathoms. 
For  ages  seals  and  cormorants  had  been  the  only  inhab- 
itants, and  yet  so  dangerous  was  this  treacherous  reef 
that  centuries  ago  the  good  monks  of  Arbroath,  settled 
there  by  William  the  Lion,  placed  a  huge  bell  on  the 
rock,  which  rang  by  means  of  machinery  set  in  motion 
by  the  waves  themselves.  Fence  the  name  of  Bell  Rock. 
It  was  not  until  1800  that  Robert  Stevenson,  then  as  yet 
little  known,  was  employed  to  survey  the  reef  and  to  re- 
port on  the  feasibility  of  erecting  a  light-house  on  the 
spot.  The  main  difficulty  arose  from  the  fact  that  the 
reef  was  covered  at  high  t'de  with  several  feet  of  water, 


'220  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

and  the  absence  of  any  shelter  for  the  workmen  on  the 
rocks,  which  lay  isolated  amid  a  waste  of  waters  and  far 
from  any  human  habitation.  To  provide  a  home,  a 
patache — a  small  vessel  of  peculiar  construction — was  an- 
chored near  the  rock  and  provided  with  a  beacon,  while 
another  vessel  was  engaged  to  keep  open  the  communi- 
cation with  the  shore.  Workshops,  in  which  the  granite 
for  the  outer  coat  and  the  sandstone  intended  for  the  in- 
ner lining  were  to  be  prepared,  were  built  at  Arbroath, 
and  a  large  dwelling-house  was  rented  for  the  laborers ; 
the  latter,  however,  were  expressly  bound  to  remain  a 
month  at  a  time  on  the  reef.  On  the  7th  of  August, 
1807,  Stevenson  and  his  assistant,  Peter  Logan,  with  a 
few  workmen,  proceeded  to  Bell  Hock,  chose  the  precise 
spot  where  the  light-house  was  to  stand,  and  immediate- 
ly went  to  work,  first  of  all  cleaning  the  place  of  seaweeds 
and  incrustations. 

The  work  was  one  of  extreme  difficulty,  as  the  men 
could  only  labor  in  the  intervals  between  the  tides,  and 
had  to  run  for  their  lives  every  two  or  three  hours.  The 
vind  and  the  weather  furnished  other  interruptions,  and 
^though  the  men  were  found  willing  to  work  on  Sun- 
iays,  and  even  at  night  by  torch-light,  the  structure 
made  naturally  but  very  slow  progress.  Accidents  hap- 
pened and  great  dangers  were  incurred.  Thus  once  the 
sloop  "  Smeaton,"  which  was  used  as  patache,  was  torn 
from  its  moorings  and  carried  with  it  a  small  vessel  full 
of  workmen;  the  tide  was  just  receding,  and  to  return 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  221 

was  impossible  till  the  reef  should  be  once  more  com- 
pletely submerged.  There  were  still  thirty-two  men  on 
the  rock,  and  the  two  remaining  vessels  could  not  have 
taken  in  more  than  half  of  them  if  the  sea  had  suddenly 
risen.  Fortunately  they  were  ignorant  of  their  danger, 
as  they  were  almost  all  sitting  or  kneeling  at  their  work. 
Smeaton  and  one  other  man  alone  were  cognizant  of  their 
great  peril.  But  when  the  rising  tide  drove  them  from 
their  work  and  they  ran  for  the  vessels,  their  astonish- 
ment was  great  at  finding  only  two  instead  of  three. 
Still,  as  Stevenson  himself  tells  us,  not  one  uttered  a 
word ;  they  only  looked  at  each  other,  counting  their 
number  in  silence,  and  showing  in  their  features  alone 
the  uneasiness  they  felt.  At  the  critical  moment,  how- 
ever, a  boat  arrived  from  Arbroath  with  the  mail,  by  the 
aid  of  which  all  were  embarked  and  went  in  search  of 
the  run-away  patache. 

Another  accident  was  even  more  formidable  by  occur- 
ring at  night.  The  wind  rose  very  suddenly  and  a  heavy 
swell  washed  over  the  rock ;  the  boats  were  instantly 
stranded  on  the  wharf  and  threatened  every  moment  to 
be  upset.  The  torches  went  out  and  the-  darkness  of  the 
night  appeared  in  all  its  horror.  The  sea  was  over- 
charged with  electricity,  and  as  the  waves  were  dashed 
into  foam  against  the  rocks,  liquid  flames  seemed  to 
cover  the  reef.  This  gave  to  the  ocean  a  terrible  ma- 
jesty, and  the  bravest  trembled  for  a  moment.  Many 
features  of  this  Crusoe-like  life  were  of  great  interest  to 


222  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEE?. 

an  intelligent  observer  like  Stevenson.  He  was  struck 
with  the  elasticity  of  the  human  mind,  when  he  saw  the 
wearied  workmen,  as  soon  as  the  tide  put  a  stop  to  their 
work,  hasten  to  their  varied  amusements.  Some  loved 
to  read,  and  seized  their  books  with  eagerness ;  others 
preferred  music,  and  the  violin  or  the  flute  enlivened  the 
strange  scene ;  still  others  preferred  fishing.  Their  only 
enemy  was  sea-sickness,  which  attacked  them  all,  and 
hardly  left  them  even  in  the  course  of  time.  Nor  was  it 
less  surprising  to  see  how  soon  these  landsmen  learnt  to 
jump  into  the  boats  and  to  creep  again  out  of  their  nar- 
row berths,  or  to  watch  them  like  the  Israelites  of  old, 
work  with  a  tool  in  one  hand  and  a  lighted  torch  in  the 
other,  undisturbed  by  the  roaring  of  the  tempest  and  the 
booming  of  the  waves.  During  the  winter  the  work 
ceased  altogether,  but  it  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  the 
builder  and  his  men,  that  on  resuming  their  labors  in  the 
succeeding  spring  they  found  the  building  perfectly 
sound  and  uninjured  by  the  terrific  storms  of  the  winter. 
When  the  last  stone  of  the  twenty-second  course  had 
been  laid,  prayers  were  held  for  the  first  time  in  the  new 
tower;  all  the  workmen  were  voluntarily  present,  and 
two  of  them  joined  their  hands  to  form  a  pulpit,  on 
which  the  Bible  lay  during  the  service.  At  the  end 
of  1810  the  authorities  took  possession  of  the  com- 
pleted structure,  and  on  February  11,  1811,  it  was 
lighted  up  for  the  first  time.  Those  lights  have  never 
yet  been  allowed  to  disappear  for  a  night,  and  the 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  223 

house    has   required  no   repairs   for    these    fifty -seven 
years. 

There  is  something  touching  in  the  manner  in  which 
the  son  of  the  great  engineer,  Alan  Stevenson,  repeated 
a  generation  later  the  work  of  his  father,  and  built  upon 
Skerryvore  a  similar  structure  in  the  open  sea.  He 
modestly  acknowledges  that  whatever  superiority  there 
may  be  in  his  work  is  due  to  the  lessons  learnt  from  his 
father's  experience,  and  the  effective  aid  of  the  new 
agent,  steam,  which  was  unknown  in  the  elder  Steven- 
son's time.  It  is  due  to  these  three  men,  Smeaton  and 
Robert  and  Alan  Stevenson,  to  state  that  they  were  the 
first  who  dared  build  such  massive  structures  surrounded 
by  the  waves,  and  well  may  we  imagine  the  ocean  saying 
to  them  in  the  poet's  words  : 

Great  I  must  call  them,  for  they  conquered  me. 

Little  that  is  really  new  and  important  has  since  been 
added  to  the  art  of  building  light-houses,  if  we  except  the 
truly  American  enterprise  of  carrying  a  whole  building  of 
the  kind  from  one  place  to  the  other,  as  we  see  houses  in  our 
cities  leaving  their  old  foundations,  wandering  through 
the  streets  and  seeking  afar  off  a  new  home.  This  oc- 
curred in  Sunderland,  where  the  repairs  in  the  harbor  led 
to  the  construction  of  a  new  jetty,  rendering  the  old  one 
useless,  and  involving  the  necessity  of  building  a  new 
light-house  on  the  new  wharf.  Workmen  had  already  pre- 
pared the  work  of  demolition,  when  a  clever  engineer, 


224:  WONDERS  OP  THE  DEEP. 

John  Murray,  conceived  the  happy  idea  of  conveying  the 
whole  building  as  it  stood  to  the  place  on  which  the  new 
tower  was  to  be  erected.  The  enterprise  was  far  from 
trifling.  The  distance  was  475  feet ;  the  line  of  trans- 
portation a  broken  one,  so  that  the  tower  had  to  be  entirely 
turned  round  ;  the  old  wharf  was  a  foot  and  seven  inches 
higher  than  the  new  one ;  and  what  seemed  to  be  the  most 
serious  obstacle,  the  octagonal  towers,  built  of  Portland 
stone,  and  76  feet  high,  rested  on  a  base  of  only  fifteen 
feet.  But  the  engineer  provided  for  all  these  difficulties. 
Openings  were  made  in  the  foundation  course,  through 
which  powerful  oak-joists  were  passed  from  side  to  side ; 
these  were  bound  together  by  equally  strong  timber  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  when  the  small  portion  of  the 
base  below  had  been  knocked  away,  the  tower  virtually 
rested  on  a  powerful  platform,  fully  capable  of  bearing 
its  weight.  Next,  strong  stays,  joined  by  stout  cross- 
pieces,  were  built  up  all  around  the  light-house,  surround- 
ing it  with  a  timber-cage.  One  hundred  and  forty-four 
heavy  cast-iron  wheels  were  placed  under  the  whole,  to 
run  on  eight  iron  rails,  which  had  been  laid  on  the  brick- 
work of  the  wharf  and  the  jetty.  As  the  colossus  pro- 
ceeded, these  rails  were  taken  up  behind  and  laid  down 
again  in  front,  while  a  number  of  workmen  were  placed 
at  the  windlasses,  which  pulled  the  platform  with  its 
enormous  burden  by  means  of  iron  chains.  The  whole 
operation  was  so  well  prepared  that  it  only  required  a 
little  over  thirteen  hours  to  move  the  immense  structure 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  225 

into  its  new  position,  and  on  the  same  evening  the  light 
shone  once  more  as  it  had  done  the  night  before,  over 
the  harbor  and  the  dark  waters  beyond. 

The  finest  of  all  light-houses  on  the  coasts  of  France  is 
strangely  enough  also  the  oldest  of  the  whole  family. 
The  Tower  of  Cordonan  crowns  a  rock  at  the  extreme 
mouth  of  the  Gironde,  and  shines  upon  the  stormiest  part 
of  the  ill-famed  Bay  of  Biscay.  Far  more  turbulent  than 
the  British  Channel  at  the  most  dangerous  point ;  far 
more  treacherous  even  than  the  waters  that  struggle  for- 
ever against  the  basalt  rocks  of  Brittany ;  the  Bay  of 
Biscay,  in  the  line  from  Cordonan  to  Biarritz,  is  the  most 
pitiless  of  them  all.  Turning  suddenly  to  the  southward, 
the  sea  seems  to  encounter  an  abyss  below,  into  which 
the  waves  rush  furiously,  only  to  escape  from  the  terrible 
pressure  and  to  rise  to  a  greater  height  than  is  seen  any- 
where else.  Hence,  from  time  immemorial,  efforts  have 
been  made  to  diminish  the  dangers  which  lurk  under  these 
waters,  and  to  furnish  a  safe  entrance  to  the  countless 
vessels  that  seek  the  large  river.  A  ledge  of  level  rocks 
fortunately  offered  from  olden  times  a  secure  lodgement, 
although  it  has  always  been  covered  and  washed  by  the 
tides.  As  early  as  the  thirteenth  century,  merchants 
who  came  from  foreign  parts  in  search  of  the  warm  wines 
of  Bordeaux,  urged  the  importance  of  lighting  up  the  un- 
safe harbor  entrance.  It  was  long  believed  that  the  great 
city  of  Cordova  in  Spain  was  especially  interested  in  this 
matter,  as  her  wealthy  traders  carried  to  the  Gironde  the 


226  WONDBBS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

skins  and  the  leather  for  which  the  city  was  renowned, 
and  that  hence  the  locality  itself  obtained  the  name  of 
Cordonan.  It  is  certain  that  the  Black  Prince  ordered, 
about  1364,  a  light-house  to  be  erected  there.  It  was,  of 
course,  of  the  simplest  kind — a  mere  wooden  structure  of 
46  feet  height,  ending  in  a  platform,  on  which  every  night 
a  wood  fire  was  kindled.  A  pious  hermit  was  entrusted 
with  the  care  of  the  fire,  and  had  in  return  the  right  to  de- 
mand two-pence  sterling  of  every  passing  vessel.  To  en- 
able him  to  serve  his  heavenly  Master  while  performing 
his  earthly  duty,  a  little  chapel  was  built  near-by  in  honor 
of  the  Virgin  Mary.  Soon  the  hermit  was  able  to  hire 
assistants ;  a  few  fishermen  joined  the  company,  and  ere 
long  a  little  village  sprang  up  around  the  diminutive 
light-house.  In  the  course  of  time  the  little  island  was 
literally  swallowed  up  by  the  voracious  ocean  ;  the  rocks 
on  which  the  houses  had  stood  disappeared  one  by  one, 
and  with  them  the  cottages ;  the  chapel  also,  and  the  very 
ruins  of  the  original  light-house,  have  passed  away ;  and 
now  no  trace  of  it  all  is  left  except  a  bare  rock  and  a  few 
sand-bars,  barely  visible  at  low  tide. 

A  new  tower  was  ordered  to  be  built  in  1584,  and  the 
king  employed  for  that  purpose  a  famous  architect  from 
Paris,  Louis  de  Foix,  who  subsequently  built  the  great 
Escurial  for  Philip  II.  The  father  died  before  the  work 
was  completed,  but  his  son  finished  it  in  1610.  The  new 
tower  was,  with  the  lantern,  70  feet  high,  and  divided 
into  four  stories,  the  second  of  which  was  proudly  called 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  227 

the  king's  apartment,  and  adorned  with  butts,  costly 
hangings,  and  elegant  sculptures.  Above  it  was  a  chapel 
of  fair  dimensions.  So  far  the  original  work  of  the  two 
Foix  is  still  in  existence,  having  braved  the  storms  and 
the  waves  for  more  than  two  centuries.  The  upper  part, 
however,  was  gradually  changed,  and  at  last  entirely  de- 
stroyed, to  make  room  for  the  present  superb  structure. 
Already,  under  Louis  XV.,  in  1727,  an  iron  lantern  was 
substituted  for  the  lantern  in  brickwork,  which  had  long 
answered  well,  but  was  now  objected  to,  partly  because 
the  stones  had  become  calcined  by  the  constant  effect  of 
the  fire,  and  partly  because  the  solid  masonry  obstructed 
largely  the  light.  Then  it  was  found  that  the  insufficient 
height  did  not  allow  the  light  to  be  seen  at  a  greater  dis- 
tance, and  the  project  was  formed  to  raise  the  upper  part 
some  sixty  feet  higher.  This  plan,  which  was  not  with- 
out danger,  was  successfully  carried  out  in  1789,  by 
Teulere,  chief  engineer  at  Bordeaux,  'and  made  his  name 
as  famous  as  that  of  the  first  builder. 

The  present  structure  is  perfectly  plain  on  the  outside, 
presenting  to  the  wind  and  the  waves  everywhere  a 
smooth  surface  on  which  they  can  find  no  corner,  no  open- 
ing, no  sharp  edge  even,  on  which  to  take  hold.  But 
there  is  majesty  in  this  very  simplicity  of  the  great  mon- 
ument, as  it  rises  boldly  from  the  bosom  of  the  ocean. 
It  stands  out  grandly  against  the  clear  western  horizon, 
and  yet  it  appears  under  a  hundred  different  aspects.  On 
a  bright  sunny  day  it  shines  brilliantly  in  dazzling  splen- 


228  WONDEKS  OF  THE  DEE£. 

dor ;  at  other  times  it  seems  to  float  vaguely  and  dimly 
amidst  shapeless  vapors.  At  night  it  breaks  out  all  of  a 
sudden  with  its  beautiful  red  light,  and  with  its  gigantic 
eye  seems  to  scan  the  wide  waste  of  waters,  to  warn  the 
imprudent  and  to  cheer  the  despairing. 

This  patriarch  of  light-houses  has,  besides,  had  the 
honor  of  being  used  for  trials  of  all  the  great  inventions 
that  are  made  from  time  to  time  in  the  manner  of  light- 
ing the  beacons.  Thus  it  was  here  that  Tresnel  estab- 
lished one  of  the  very  first  of  his  dioptric  apparatus ;  as 
here  also,  ages  ago,  coal  had  first  been  substituted  for 
wood,  and  then  lamps  for  a  fire.  In  1782  not  less  than 
80  lamps,  each  accompanied  by  its  reflector,  nearly  filled 
the  lantern.  More  recently  still  greater  improvements 
have  been  added,  and  even  now  the  question  is  agitated 
of  introducing  here  also  the  electric  light,  which  has  al- 
ready done  such  signal  service  in  the  harbor  of  Havre. 
Nor  must  we  overlook  the  remarkable  fact  that  the  tower 
of  Cordonan  possesses  the  peculiar  power  of  resistance 
with  which  high  light-houses  are  endowed,  after  the  man- 
ner of  giant  trees.  It  does  not  mind  the  masses  of  rain, 
of  hail,  and  of  snow,  which  the  fierce  winds  drive  furi- 
ously against  its  sides  and  the  solid  panes  of  its  beauti- 
ful lantern.  It  stands  calm  and  undisturbed  amid  the 
host  of  gigantic  waves,  which  in  times  of  tempest  come 
up  in  unbroken  ranks  and  dash  their  heads  against  the 
granite  walls;  they  glide  smoothly  from  the  polished 
sides,  break  into  foam  against  the  galleries,  and,  after 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  229 

deluging  the  cupola  on  high,  run  madly  off  into  the  Bay, 
but  not  without  having  exacted  a  tribute  from  the  proud 
granite.  The  tower  bends  imperceptibly  to  do  homage 
to  the  terrible  power  of  its  adversaries.  The  keepers 
assert  that  during  violent  storms  the  vessels  filled  with 
oil,  which  are  kept  in  one  of  the  topmost  chambers,  show 
a  change  of  level  of  more  than  an  inch — whicn  implies, 
that  the  tower  must  describe  an  arc  of  more  than  three 
feet !  The  same  experience  has  been  made  in  other  light- 
houses ;  as  soon  as  the  structure  rises  to  a  height  of  120 
feet,  these  rockings  become  sufficiently  strong  to  spill 
liquids  kept  in  shallow  vessels,  and  to  make  the  weights 
of  the  clock-work  strike  against  the  inner  sides  of  the 
pipes  to  which  they  are  confined.  On  a  much  larger 
scale  yet,  the  steeple  of  the  Cathedral  of  Strasburg,  440 
feet  high,  bends  under  the  fury  of  storms,  and  rocks  high 
in  the  air  its  long  ogives,  its  delicate  columns,  and  the 
gigantic  cross  that  crowns  the  summit. 

If  the  tower  of  Cordonan  is  the  very  oldest  of  the 
French  light-houses,  and  well  known  to  mariners  of  every 
nation  by  its  bold  position  and  the  great  benefits  it  has 
bestowed  upon  countless  vessels,  little  has  been  heard  as 
yet  of  the  youngest  of  the  family  in  far  distant  waters. 
At  the  other  end  of  the  world,  in  the  South  Pacific 
Ocean,  there  lies  an  island  famous  for  its  coral  reefs, 
which  connect  such  a  number  of  islets,  rocks,  and  sand- 
banks, that  the  navigation  is  rendered  most  intricate  and 
dangerous,  and  the  land  can  be  approached  by  two  open- 


230  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

ings  only.  The  French  government,  to  protect  its  rap- 
idly increasing  commerce  in  those  regions,  ordered  a 
light-house  to  be  erected  on  a  sand-shoal  far  out  in  the 
open  sea,  but  sheltered  against  the  violence  of  the  sea  by 
coral  reefs  on  three  sides.  This  comparatively  safe  posi- 
tion encouraged  the  builders  to  select  cast-iron  for  the 
structure.  The  tower,  built  in  the  city  of  Paris,  consists 
of  a  skeleton,  covered  with  plates  of  iron  and  fastened 
together  with  strong  iron  rivets,  the  whole  building 
being  anchored  as  is  were  to  the  sand  itself  by  cast-iron 
screws.  In  spite  of  the  light  and  graceful  appearance 
which  is  thus  given  to  the  building,  and  which  attracted 
the  admiration  of  all  beholders  at  the  last  Exposition  at 
Paris  in  a  twin  structure,  the  tower  is  so  strong  that  the 
rockings  perceived  in  solid  structures  of  stone  and  brick- 
work are  here  hardly  noticed.  The  height  up  to  the 
lantern  amounts  to  165  feet,  and  the  admirable  apparatus 
for  lighting  sheds  a  fixed  white  light  to  a  distance  of 
twenty-two  miles.  When  the  tower,  sent  out  piecemeal 
in  1865  to  its  far  distant  home,  reached  the  island,  and 
was  inaugurated,  amid  solemn  ceremonies  befitting  the 
occasion,  the  motley  crowd  of  sailors,  soldiers,  and 
French  colonists  nearly  disappeared  amid  overwhelming 
numbers  of  savage  natives,  whom  the  splendor  of  the 
display  had  attracted  from  all  directions.  But  as  soon 
as  the  beneficent  light  had  begun  to  shine  upon  the  dark 
waters,  the  light  of  civilization  also  dawned  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  poor  outcasts,  and  soon  cannibalism  ceased, 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  231 

peace  brought  prosperity,  and  the  blessings  of  our  faith 
were  brought  to  these  remote  regions  by  zealous  mis- 
sionaries. 

While  light-houses  shine  on  the  coast  of  every  civil- 
ized country,  marking  every  cliff  and  reef  on  the  rock- 
bound  shores  of  Europe,  and  warning  sailors  against  the 
countless  shallows  and  dangerous  currents  on  our  own 
coast,  smaller  lights  are  placed  at  the  entrance  of  har- 
bors, and  on  places  which  by  their  nature  render  the 
erection  of  larger  structures  impossible.  This  is  done 
by  means  of  light-ships  riding  at  anchor,  before  treach- 
erous sand-banks,  rapid  currents,  submarine  whirlpools, 
or  reefs  which  the  tide  covers  completely  at  certain  hours 
of  the  day.  The  invention  is  said  to  be  due  to  a 
remarkable  barber  of  Lynn,  in  England,  called  Robert 
Hamblin.  His  good  looks  brought  him,  with  the  hand 
of  a  ship-owner's  daughter,  also  the  right  of  property  in 
a  small  vessel,  in  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  carrying 
coal  from  place  to  place  along  the  coast.  Thus  he 
became  personally  familiar  with  the  great  danger  of  the 
Goodwin  Sands,  which,  by  their  shifting,  changing  na- 
ture, have  perhaps  proved  more  fatal  to  life  and  prop- 
erty than  any  other  quicksands  known  in  the  great 
ocean.  Chance  brought  him  in  contact  with  a  man  of 
great  ingenuity  but  small  means,  David  Avery,  who  sug- 
gested to  his  new  friend  the  expediency  of  putting  a 
light  not  on  a  tall  tower,  which  was  utterly  beyond  their 
means,  but  on  board  an  old  hulk  unfit  for  any  other  pur- 


WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

pose.  The  energy  of  one  partner  and  the  skill  of  the 
other  combined  to  erect  a  floating  light  at  the  Nore, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Thames,  and,  to  support  the  enter- 
prise, they  took  it  upon  themselves  to  levy  a  small  tax 
on  all  passing-vessels. 

The  novelty  created  great  displeasure  at  Trinity 
House ;  they  disliked  seeing  outsiders  originate  a  new 
plan,  the  success  of  which  could  not  be  denied,  and  they 
objected  still  more  to  the  levying  of  duties  by  any  one 
but  themselves.  When  therefore  Avery,  encouraged  by 
the  approbation  he  had  earned  by  all  sailors,  openly 
announced  his  intention  to  place  a  similar  light-ship 
in  the  waters  near  the  Scilly  Islands,  complaint  was 
made  before  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  against  the 
intruder.  Unable  to  obtain  a  hearing,  the  Corporation 
appealed  directly  to  the  King,  setting  forth  the  lawless- 
ness of  men  who  ventured  to  tax  vessels  by  their  own 
authority,  and  succeeded  here  so  well,  that  Nore  light- 
ship was  ordered  to  be  removed.  Avery,  threatened 
with  the  loss  of  all  he  had  and  all  he  had  hoped  still  to 
earn  by  his  happy  invention,  thereupon  entered  into 
negotiations  with  the  indignant  members  of  Trinity 
House,  and  pleading  the  value  of  his  idea  and  the  heavy 
outlay  which  he  had  incurred,  induced  them  to  agree  to 
a  compromise.  He  surrendered  all  his  rights  to  the  Cor- 
poration, and  received  in  return  a  lease  for  sixty-one 
years,  in  payment  of  an  annual  rent  of  a  hundred  pounds. 

This  was  the  origin  of  light-ships ;  a  new  evidence  of 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  233 

the  great  ability  which  official  authorities  display  in 
every  age  to  discourage  useful  inventions ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  of  the  unfailing  success  of  men  who  combine 
energy  with  perseverance.  Trinity  House  made  light  of 
Avery's  suggestion ;  it  declared  that  Sir-  John  Clayton 
had  had  the  same  idea  fifty  years  before — but  for  all  that 
Avery  and  Hamblin  were  the  first  to  try  it  practically 
and  to  succeed. 

A  light-ship  is  a  painful  sight  to  a  sailor,  as  far  as  its 
appearance  is  concerned.  The  hulk  is,  of  course,  like  all 
others ;  but  the  short,  thick  masts  have  no  yards  nor  sails, 
and  bear  on  the  head  large  balls  of  wood.  The  very 
essence  of  a  vessel,  its  easy,  graceful  movements,  its 
readiness  to  yield  to  a  slight  pressure  of  the  hand  on  the 
rudder,  or  a  gentle  puff  of  wind  on  the  sails,  is  missing. 
The  only  question  here  is  not  motion,  but  immobility ; 
how  to  remain  stationary  in  spite  of  the  elements — this  is 
the  first  requisite  in  a  light-ship.  Amid  the  greatest 
violence  of  the  waves,  during  the  highest  spring  tides, 
and  in  the  very  centre  of  powerful  currents,  the  stout 
vessel  must  ride  quietly  at  anchor,  undisturbed  by  all 
the  turmoil  and  uproar  around  it.  Like  a  galley-slave  of 
.old,  it  is  fastened  by  iron  chains  and  huge  cables  to  the 
spot,  where  henceforth  it  is  to  remain  immovable.  The 
length  of  these  chains  is  sometimes  enormous ;  the  light- 
ship at  Seven  Stones,  riding  in  waters  270  feet  deep,  is 
fastened  to  a  chain  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  and  besides 
secured  by  a  number  of  stays  and  shackles.  The  cases 


234  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

of  light-ships  being  torn  from  their  moorings  are  very 
rare ;  when  the  elements  become  too  strong  for  the 
fastenings,  and  the  light  drifting  about  at  random  might 
mislead  ships  in  the  neighborhood,  a  red  signal  is  imme- 
diately hoisted,  a  gun  is  fired  at  prescribed  intervals,  and 
generally  the  vessel  is  brought  back  to  its  place  in  an 
incredibly  short  time.  But  the  calm  courage  and  the 
presence  of  mind  required  on  such  occasions  speak  highly 
for  the  character  of  the  crews  of  these  vessels  in  general, 
since  none  has  ever  been  lost,  nor  has  it  been  ascertained 
that  any  calamity  has  ever  occurred  in  consequence  of 
a  light-ship  being  torn  from  its  fastenings.  To  make 
assurance  doubly  sure,  however,  these  is  generally  a 
vessel  held  in  reserve  at  a  short  distance  from  the  light- 
ship, which  can  be  telegraphed  for,  and  may  at  any 
moment  be  sent  to  occupy  the  vacant  station  for  a  time. 
The  light-ships  of  Trinity  House  are  painted  red,  those 
of  Scotland  black,  while  our  own  are  generally  adorned 
with  longitudinal  stripes  of  different  colors.  On  the 
sides  of  the  vessel  the  name  is  commonly  painted  in 
gigantic  letters,  and  a  special  flag  is  assigned  them  in  all 
maritime  countries. 

The  floating  lights  of  England  and  those  of  the  Union 
amount  to  the  same  number — forty-seven.  American 
light-ships  have  only  of  late  come  up  to  the  standard  of 
foreign  vessels  of  the  kind,  and  a  considerable  number 
of  them  are  so  placed  that  in  times  of  stormy  weather 
they  can  leave  their  post  and  seek  refuge  in  calmer 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  235 

waters.  France  has  the  smallest  number,  partly  because 
the  coasts  require  less,  and  partly  because  certain  posi- 
tions, like  those  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  are  such  as  to  have 
so  far  defied  all  efforts  to  establish  a  light- ship  in  them 
permanently. 

The  crew  of  larger  light-ships  consists  in  England  of  a 
master,  a  mate,  and  nine  men.  Three  of  these  attend  to 
the  lights,  while  the  other  six,  among  whom  there  must 
always  be  an  able  carpenter,  keep  the  vessel  clean  and  in 
order.  One-third  of  the  crew  is  absent,  being  allowed  to 
live  on  shore  during  their  time,  since  experience  has 
taught  the  authorities  that  an  unbroken  stay  on  board 
Is-  fatal  to  health  and  morality  alike.  The  terrible  mo- 
notony of  such  a  life,  which  gives  no  occupation  to  the 
senses  or  to  the  mind,  and  the  incessant,  silent  struggle 
with  the  power  of  the  elements,  overwhelm  the  mind,  in- 
duce apathy  and  melancholy,  and  lead  to  crimes  or  to 
suicides.  Not  without  reason,  therefore,  did  Dickens  in- 
clude the  crews  of  light-ships  among  his  curiosities  of 
mankind.  Hence  the  master  and  the  mate  alternate  by 
months,  while  the  crew  spends  two  months  on  board  and 
one  on  shore.  But  the  elements  do  not  always  permit 
the  regular  change,  and  many  a  crew  has  been  compelled 
.to  remain  for  months  and  months  without  any  inter- 
course with  the  land.  In  olden  times,  it  is  said,  more 
than  once  the  men  were  thus  doomed  to  death  by 
starvation.  It  is  touching  to  hear  how  the  poor  fel- 
lows, when  on  shore,  dream  incessantly  of  the  sea,  while 


236  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

on  board  ship  their  minds  wander  as  faithfully  back  to 
the  shore. 

The  lanterns,  in  which  the  lamps  are  enclosed,  are 
placed  around  the  top  of  the  mast  j  during  daytime  they 
are  lowered  in  order  to  be  cleaned  and  filled  with  oil ; 
at  night  this  crown  of  lights  is  raised  again  and  shines 
to  a  great  distance.  Every  vessel  is  besides  provided 
with  a  gun  and  a  gong,  and  thus  they  are  enabled  to  be 
of  most  valuable  service.  The  famous  light-ship  near  the 
Scilly  Islands  has  witnessed  but  two  shipwrecks  on  the 
reefs  near  which  it  has  anchored ;  in  one  case  the  crew 
saved  one  man,  in  the  other  all  the  passengers  except  the 
wife  of  a  missionary.  The  Government  does  not  encour- 
age these  humane  efforts  by  rewards,  as  the  sole  duty  of 
the  crew  is  to  maintain  the  light,  which  the  men  cannot 
be  allowed  to  neglect  for  a  moment,  since  while 
one  life  may  be  saved,  a  hundred  lives  may  be  imper- 
illed. The  light-ship  at  Seven  Stones  occupies  the  most 
exposed  position  of  all  such  vessels ;  nevertheless  it  has 
never  been  torn  from  its  moorings,  although  the  waves 
frequently  wash  over  the  deck  for  hours,  and  when  the 
sea  strikes  the  sides,  it  "makes  a  noise  like  a  four- 
pounder,"  as  the  captain  says.  English  crews  are  always 
taken  from  the  navy  ;  in  our  country  the  keeper  is  gene- 
rally a  civilian,  and  frequently  hires  his  men.  Hence 
the  discipline  is  not  as  strictly  kept  up  with  us  as  in 
England,  where  a  man  was  once  on  the  point  of  losing 
his  life  because  he  had  secretly  left  his  light-ship  in  order 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  237 

to  attend  the  funeral  of  his  wife,  who  had  died  in  Lon- 
don. He  was  pardoned,  however,  and  escaped  with  a 
severe  reprimand. 

Where  neither  light-houses  can  be  built  nor  light-ships 
nioored  in  the  sea,  to  serve  as  guiding  stars  to  mariners, 
there  sailors  look  instinctively  for  landmarks  to  direct 
them  in  their  navigation.  Now  it  is  a  steeple,  and  now 
a  windmill;  in  lonely  countries  a  single  tree  or  a  promin- 
ent rock,  which  serve  thus  as  guides.  Isolated  mountains, 
like  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe,  volcanoes  throwing  off  their 
clouds  of  smoke,  or  distant  glaciers  shining  afar  off  in  the 
bright  light,  are  gigantic  landmarks  of  this  kind,  wel- 
comed by  the  sailor  from  distant  seas.  Among  these  re- 
markable points  some  have  acquired  historic  fame.  The 
most  ancient  of  all  are  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  of  which 
a  French  poet  once  sang  that  there  was  but  one  thing 
wanting  to  their  glory — that  they  should  have  existed. 
Hesychius,  to  be  sure,  mentions  three  or  four  pillars  which 
stood  near  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  and  were  reported  to 
have  been  placed  there  by  Hercules;  and  the  great  Arab 
Geographer,  Edrisi,  speaks  of  six,  of  which  one  was 
placed  as  far  east  as  Cadiz  in  Andalusia,  while  the  western- 
most stood  amid  the  islands  of  the  Dark  Sea,  the  Cana- 
ries, and  bore  the  inscription  :  Ne  plus  t,  Itra  !  But  Strabo 
already  expresses  his  doubts  of  their  existence  when 
speaking  of  Cadiz ;  and  it  is  certain  that  besides  the 
allusions  we  have  mentioned,  there  exists  no  evidence  of 
their  existence. 


238  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

Another  famous  monument,  long  known  as  a  landmark, 
is  the  beautiful  pillar  that  stands  in  Alexandria,  and  is 
known  under  the  name  of  Pompey's  Pillar.  It  is  the 
first  object  that  becomes  visible  to  those  who  approach 
Egypt  from  the  sea,  and  towers  apparently  high  above 
the  obelisks  and  minarets  of  the  eastern  city.  Its  pre- 
cise height  was  unknown  until  the  French  expedition 
came  to  Egypt  in  1798,  when  some  of  the  savans  at- 
tached to  Bonaparte's  army  undertook  for  the  first  time 
to  obtain  its  measure.  They  resorted,  for  this  purpose, 
to  a  very  ingenious  device.  A  huge  kite  was  started,  to 
which  a  long  rope  had  been  fastened  ;  when  the  kite  was 
floating  tranquilly  in  the  air  just  above  the  top  of  the 
column,  it  was  suddenly  pulled  down  by  the  rope,  which 
thus  was  stretched  over  the  capital  as  upon  the  outside 
of  a  pully.  Then  a  larger  rope  was  substituted  for  the 
first,  and  fastened  with  stakes  to  the  ground  at  the  foot 
of  the  pillar ;  on  this  a  child  went  up  to  the  top  and  fas- 
tened there,  by  means  of  a  block  and  fall,  a  sufficiently 
strong  tackle  by  which  the  savans  were  hoisted  up  in  a 
chair. 

The  beautiful  column  consists  of  four  huge  blocks  of 
rose-colored  granite,  but  the  shaft  alone  is  of  undoubted 
antiquity  and  in  the  purest  style ;  the  capital  and  the 
pedestal  have  evidently  been  added  at  a  later  period  and 
are  not  in  proportion.  Nevertheless  the  column  gains 
by  its  isolation,  which  makes  it  appear  higher  than  it 
really  is,  and  by  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the  Corinthian 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  239 

capital,  more  than  it  would  have  gained  if  the  whole  had 
been  completed  like  the  shaft,  in  the  Doric  order.  Ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  many  authors,  the  present 
pillar  did  not  always  stand  alone.  Arabic  authors  speak 
of  it  as  being  surrounded  by  an  immense  portico,  whence 
it  was  called  in  Arabic  Amouad  el  Saouary,  the  Pillar 
of  Pillars,  a  name  which  was  by  ignorance  corrupted 
into  the  Pillar  of  Severus.  Captain  G.  H.  Smyth  thinks, 
on  the  contrary,  that  this  is  the  column  of  which  Aph- 
thonius  says,  that  "  it  bears  the  elements  of  all  things," 
an  expression  which  might  have  referred  to  the  great 
copper  disc  of  which  Hipparchus  makes  mention.  As 
another  Arabic  author  positively  asserts  that  he  saw,  in 
1200,  a  cupola  on  top,  many  have  inferred  that  the  col- 
umn may  have  been  intended  for  astronomical  observa- 
tions, and  perhaps  stood  in  the  very  centre  of  that  mag- 
nificent Serapeum,  which  is  thought  by  some  to  have 
held  the  magnificent  library  of  Alexandria. 

Others  again  have  looked  upon  the  column  as  from 
the  beginning  intended  only  for  a  monument,  and  have 
ascribed  it  to  Cleopatra,  who  erected  it  in  honor  of 
Pompey.  Although  it  still  bears  the  name  of  the  trium- 
vir, none  of  the  old  authors  who  have  described  Egypt 
in  their  pages,  Pliny,  Diodorus  of  Sicily,  or  Strabo,  men- 
tions the  pillar,  which  they  would  certainly  have  done  if 
it  had  existed  in  their  days.  Pocock  thinks  it  was  erected 
in  honor  of  Titus,  or  Hadrian,  while  Abul  Feda  attri- 
butes it  to  the  Emperor  Severus.  The  difficulty  seems 


240  WONDERS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

only  to  have  been  increased  by  an  inscription  which  was 
discovered  by  Pocock.  While  examining  the  column  care- 
fully and  measuring  its  dimensions,  he  had  noticed  in  the 
strong  sunlight,  between  eleven  o'clock  and  noon,  traces 
of  a  Greek  inscription  on  the  western  side  of  the  plinth 
of  the  base.  Numerous  blank  spaces  and  the  vague  out- 
line of  the  letters  prevented  him  from  deciphering  the 
words,  but  at  last  several  French  and  English  savans 
succeeded  in  unravelling  the  mystery.  It  was  found  to 
read  thus : 

TO 
DIOCLETIAN    AUGUSTUS, 

MOST   ADORABLE    EMPEROR, 
TUTELARY     DIVINITY     OF     EGYPT, 

I,  Po PREFECT  OF  EGYPT, 

CONSECRATE     THIS. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  foundations  of  the  column  are 
formed  in  the  coarsest  manner,  stones  of  every  kind  and 
of  all  dimensions  being  heaped  up  together.  Efforts 
have  been  made  from  time  to  time  to  dig  under  these 
foundations  in  search  of  hidden  treasures,  and  this  has 
been  done  so  recklessly,  that  the  pillar  now  inclines  more 
than  seven  inches  to  the  west.  Nor  are  the  usual  efforts 
wanting  to  disfigure  the  beautiful  monument  for  the  bene- 
fit of  ruthless  travellers,  and  towards  its  upper  part,  the 
graceful  shaft  is  defaced  by  the  names  of  some  English 
tourists,  written  with  pitch  in  letters  of  ten  feet  high. 


LIGHT  AT  SEA. 

Gradually  the  eminent  services  of  such  landmarks 
were  more  and  more  appreciated,  and  it  became  custom- 
ary to  erect  them  on  the  coasts,  where  none  had  been 
provided  by  Nature.  The  Etruscans  are  said  to  have 
been  the  first  to  erect  little  pillars  for  the  guidance  of 
mariners  by  day,  as  light-houses  served  by  night,  and  in 
our  day  the  good  old  custom  has  been  systematically  re- 
vived. Small  pillars  of  stone  or  structures  of  timber 
are  erected  on  prominent  positions  and  painted  white, 
where  they  appear  against  a  dark  background ;  brown, 
when  they  are  seen  against  the  sky.  If  it  appears  desir- 
able to  mark  a  submarine  reef,  on  which  vessels  without 
a  good  pilot  might  be  stranded,  beacons  and  buoys  are 
used,  which  have  on  the  top  a  cash,  or  a  ball,  or  even  a 
larger  structure  composed  of  iron  bars.  As  these  buoys, 
however,  are  useful  only  in  clear  weather,  when  they  can 
be  distinctly  seen,  and  cease  to  be  of  service  in  fogs,  they 
have  frequently  been  provided  with  large  bells  fastened 
inside  of  a  small  open-work  cage,  and  set  in  motion  by 
the  agitated  waves.  New  additions  have  quite  recently 
been  made  to  these  warning  sentinels,  which  abound  in 
all  navigable  waters  from  the  wide  waste  of  the  ocean  up 
to  the  head  waters  of  great  inland  streams.  In  France,  for 
instance,  all  buoys  which  are  to  be  left  on  the  larboard  in 
coming  from  outside,  are  painted  red  with  a  white  crown 
on  the  summit,  while  those  that  are  to  be  left  on  star- 
board, are  painted  black.  Others  are  adorned  with 
stripes,  lozenges,  or  squares,  in  all  possible  colors ;  and 


242  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

some  actually  possess  mirrors,  in  which  they  reflect  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  or  the  light  that  conies  from  light-houses 
at  a  little  distance.  On  our  own  coast,  where  fogs  are 
very  frequent  and  currents  near  shore  very  dangerous, 
no  expense  has  been  spared,  and  almost  all  difficult  places 
which  are  frequented  by  vessels,  are  provided  with  large 
bells,  which  are  rung  during  fogs  at  fixed  intervals,  or 
with  enormous  whistles,  blown  by  an  ingenious  appara- 
tus. Even  here  the  Etruscans  are  said  to  have  taken  the 
lead  ages  before  our  own  invention,  although  in  those 
days  the  means  were  of  the  simplest.  A  rude  conch- 
shell,  such  as  is  still  in  use  on  West  India  plantations, 
was  blown  from  the  coast  by  men  stationed  there  during 
dark  weather ;  and  later,  marine  trumpets  were  invented 
to  take  their  place. 

These  were  primitive  ways  certainly  in  comparison 
with  the  ingenious  contrivances  by  which  in  our  day  ves- 
sels afar  off  are  informed  of  all  that  is  important  for  them 
to  know.  At  every  port  and  harbor  there  are  stations, 
from  which  by  means  of  flags  or  balls  covered  with  rope- 
nets,  telegraphic  news  can  be  sent  out  to  a  distance  of 
many  miles.  The  ship  that  comes  home  from  its  long 
voyage,  sees  thus  at  a  glance  how  much  water  there  is  in 
the  channel  through  which  lies  the  entrance  to  the  desired 
haven.  Every  item  of  importance  is  thus  signalled  out 
by  a  number  of  flags  and  their  combinations,  while  at 
night  lights  take  their  place.  If  we  add  to  this,  that  in 
France,  as  in  fact  in  most  maritime  countries,  the  laws 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  243 

prescribe  that  every  vessel  entering  into  port  must  carry 
lights,  we  can  readily  understand  how  well  the  whole 
coast  of  civilized  countries  is  lighted  up,  and  how  brilliant 
the  scene  is  at  the  entrance  of  great  harbors.  This  cus- 
tom also  was  known  to  the  ancient  Greeks  already,  and 
graphic  descriptions  are  found  in  old  authors  of  the  bright 
lights  that  shone  from  their  beautiful  vessels,  the  height 
on  the  mast  indicating  the  rank  of  the  commander.  The 
common  usage  of  our  day  is  for  every  vessel,  even  out  at 
sea,  to  have  a  white  light  on  the  mizzenmast,  a  red  one 
on  the  larboard,  and  a  green  one  on  the  starboard  side. 
Smaller  vessels  use  a  wick  dipped  in  turpentine  in  a  brass 
vessel,  which  sheds  a  bright  light,  and  burns  all  the  better 
when  it  is  wetted  by  rain.  Thus  alone  could  the  number 
of  dangerous  meetings  in  dark  nights  be  diminished,  and 
in  the  course  of  a  few  years  thousands  of  human  lives  are 
saved  by  this  simple  precaution. 

It  is  sad  to  have  to  add,  that  light-houses  and  beacons 
have  not  escaped  the  fate  of  all  benevolent  measures,  but 
have  served  from  oldest  times  down  to  our  own,  in  the 
hands  of  wicked  men,  to  ruin  others  and  to  drive  them 
into  destruction.  While  in  one  place  the  welcome  light 
shone  brightly,  and  seemed  to  say  to  despairing  hearts, : 
Come  safely  on,  here  hearts  beat  for  you,  eyes  are  watch- 
ing and  hands  waiting  to  receive  you  !  a  few  miles  further 
on,  other  lights  were  kindled  to  draw  the  unwary  upon 
reefs  and  shallows,  and  to  enrich  the  spoilers  with  the 
wealth  of  the  unfortunate  shipwrecked.  The  annals  of 


244  WONDBES   OF  THE   DEEP. 

antiquity  are  full  of  stories  of  such  infamous  wreckers, 
but  thinly  disguised  under  the  half  fabulous  guise  of  fair 
sirens  or  one-eyed  Cyclopes,  of  a  beautiful  Circe  or  cruel 
Cushite  priestesses  on  the  shores  of  Campania.  Do  we 
not  all  remember  the  stratagem  of  king  Nauplius,  who 
ruled  over  the  island  of  Euboea  ?  Irritated  against  the 
Greeks,  who  had  murdered  his  son  Palamedes,  he  kindled 
large  fires  on  Mount  Caphareus — now  Kaoo  Daro — to 
attract  the  Greek  fleet  during  a  storm  to  its  dangerous 
rocks,  and  not  a  vessel  escaped ! 

During  the  whole  of  the  Middle  Ages  the  poor  ship- 
wrecked mariner  was  looked  upon  as  a  God-send  by  the 
people  on  the  coast,  and  his  ship  was  plundered  accord- 
ing to  law  and  custom.  "  Good  are  the  wrecks  that  come 
to  the  king's  coast ;  they  are  the  king's."  said  the  old 
French  law.  Severe  decrees,  it  is  true,  were  issued 
against  those  inhuman  wretches  who  lighted  up  decoy- 
fires  for  the  purpose  of  leading  mariners  into  dangerous 
places  and  then  profiting  by  their  misfortune.  "  They 
shall  be  put  into  the  sea  and  plunged  till  they  are  half- 
dead,  then  pulled  out  and  stoned  and  knocked  down  like 
dogs  or  wolves,"  say  the  same  laws.  But  what  was  the 
result  ?  As  late  as  1794  a  formidable  reef  on  the  coast 
of  Brittany  was  looked  upon  as  a  gold-mine  by  the  in- 
habitants. "  While  the  honest  man  trembles  at  the 
sight  of  the  danger,"  says  a  French  author  of  that  day, 
"  the  pitiless  dweller  on  that  coast  arms  himself  with 
sticks  and  ropes,  hides  behind  the  rocks,  and  pounces 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  245 

upon  all  he  can  seize  without  being  caught  by  the  police. 
Formerly  he  killed  the  unfortunate  man  who  stretched 
out  his  arms  towards  him  from  the  waters,  imploring  his 
help ;  now  he  has  become  more  humane  ;  he  leaves  him 
his  life,  but  nothing  else.  If  the  police  interferes,  they 
become  furious ;  their  wives  come  to  their  assistance,  and 
united  they  fall  upon  the  gendarmes ;  shots  are  fired, 
blood  flows,  and  lives  are  lost.  It  is  the  height  of  in- 
justice and  of  cruelty  in  their  eyes  for  these  men  to 
deprive  them  of  what  God  has  sent  them  in  His  good- 
ness." 

It  is  not  less  curious  to  see  how  the  same  cunning 
devices  have  been  used  from  time  immemorial  for  the 
purpose  of  misleading  ships.  On  the  coast  of  the  Black 
Sea,  already  in  the  days  when  the  ancients  yet  called  it 
the  Inhospitable  Sea,  barbarians  had  learnt  to  tie  a  lan- 
tern between  the  horns  of  a  cow,  and  then  to  lead  her 
along  the  edge  of  the  water,  knowing  'that  the  motion 
thus  given  to  the  light  closely  resembled  a  light  on 
board  ship ;  and  the  same  infamous  custom  prevailed  in 
the  last  century  yet  on  the  coast  of  France.  Nor  is 
England  exempt  from  such  outrages.  In  1825  a  Greek 
brig,  the  "  Cimoni,"  was  wrecked  near  Alderney,  and  so 
completely  plundered  that  the  crew  was  literally  left 
without  a  single  article  of  clothing  by  the  civilization 
of  the  nineteenth  century!  As  late  as  1866  the 
"  Morning  Post  "  complained  that,  contrary  to  the  gen- 
eral impression,  the  barbarous  custom  of  kindling  decoy- 


246  WONDEKS    OP  THE   DEEP. 

fires  on  the  coast  was  yet  in  existence  in  some  parts  of 
Cornwall,  and  even  in  Durham.  The  unusually  large 
number  of  vessels  which  had  at  that  period  been  lost 
between  Sunderland  and  Tynemouth,  on  rocks  on  which 
lights  had  been  seen  burning,  gave  color  to  this  asser- 
tion. But  worse  is  still  behind.  While  England  can 
boast  of  her  admirable  life-boats,  which  have  been  the 
means  of  preserving  no  less  than  eleven  thousand  four 
hundred  men  from  a  watery  grave,  regular  associations 
of  wreckers  have  been  discovered  to  exist  in  some 
counties.  These  men,  instead  of  kindling  decoy-lights 
and  plundering  the  crews  of  vessels  which  they  have  led 
into  destruction,  go  out  to  seek  their  spoil  on  the  open 
sea.  As  soon  as  a  small  vessel  is  signalled  from  the  look- 
outs they  keep,  they  jump  into  their  cutters  and  pull  out 
to  the  ship ;  they  board  her,  and  without  ceremony  take 
possession  of  her  to  carry  her  into  the  next  English  har- 
bor. Here  they  swear  that  they  have  rescued  her  from 
sinking,  and  demand  the  usual  salvage.  Instances  of 
similar  atrocity,  it  is  well  known,  have  occurred  on  our 
own  coast  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Florida  Keys,  and 
it  is  to  be  apprehended  that  no  nation  is  entirely  free 
from  such  disgraceful  abuses. 

Nor  must  we  overlook  the  fact,  that  light-houses  them- 
selves, and  the  most  perfect  lights  they  can  boast  of,  are 
often  the  cause  of  great  disasters.  The  latter  happened 
to  be  the  case  not  long  ago,  when  an  emigrant  ship,  the 
"  Dunbar,"  went  ashore  on  the  Sidney  Headlands,  just 


LIGHT  AT  SEA.  247 

underneath  the  superb  dioptric  light  which  burned  on  the 
summit,  but  did  not  suffice  to  show  the  dangers  immedi- 
ately at  its  foot.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind,  that  the  lighted  headlands  and  sands  are  the  true 
points  of  danger  on  every  coast,  and  that  if  light-houses 
sometimes  are  the  direct  cause  of  shipwreck,  this  arises 
from  the  fact  that  the  seamaii  must  first  see  the  danger 
before  he  can  avoid  it.  This  has  led  a  member  of  Trinity 
House  to  propose  what  he  calls  his  Fair  Way — a  series 
of  light-ships,  of  the  simplest  construction,  all  the  way  up 
the  Channel — so  that  a  ship  making  the  westernmost  of 
the  Lizard  would  be  enabled  to  make  her  way  up  the  mid 
channel  in  perfect  safety.  For,  after  all,  Man  is  a  match 
for  Nature.  Whilst  the  ocean  fights  against  the  mariner 
and  hurls  him  on  the  coast  with  relentless  fury,  Art, 
from  the  land,  replies  by  her  cunning  engines,  and  wres- 
tles with  the  waves  for  the  stake  of  human  life.  Thanks 
be  to  God,  the  victory  is  not  to  the  strongest,  nor  the 
race  to  the  swift ;  and  year  by  year  the  number  of  lives 
lost  on  our  coast  is  diminished  by  the  noble  efforts  made 
to  prevent  shipwreck,  and  Light  has  been  found,  at  sea 
as  on  land,  the  most  efficient  agent  in  securing  life  and 
property  alike. 


IX. 
LIGHT-HOUSE    STORIES. 

"  Hail,  Holy  Light !    Offspring  of  Heaven's  fiwt-born."— MILTON. 

HHHE  traveller  who  sails  up  that  most  delightful  of  all 
-*-  streams,  the  Rhine,  sees  on  his  right  hand,  when  not 
far  from  Bingen,  a  pretty  toy-castle,  which  raises  its  per- 
fect battlements  high  above  rocks  and  mountains.  On 
one  of  its  tiny  turrets  floats  the  black-and-white  banner, 
with  the  fierce  Prussian  eagle  in  the  centre  ;  for  the  seat 
and  the  occupation  of  the  robber-knight  of  old  have  both 
been  assumed,  though  on  a  royal  scale,  by  a  prince  of 
the  house  of  Hohenzollern.  If  it  is  the  good  fortune  of 
the  traveller  to  ascend  that  part  of  the  river  in  the  sweet 
twilight  of  an  autumn  evening,  he  will  soon  after  sunset 
see  a  strange  reddish  flame  blaze  up  near  one  of  the 
smaller  towers ;  it  hangs  apparently  free  in  the  air,  but 
nearly  over  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  sheds  its  ruddy 
glare  up  and  down  the  dark  waters.  As  he  turns  round 
the  tiny  promontory,  which  serves  as  a  gate  to  the  long, 
open  stretch  on  which  the  fire  shines,  he  discovers  at 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  249 

last  that  there  is  a  quaint  iron  basket,  fastened  by  huge 
iron  rods  to  the  stones  of  the  tower,  and  that  inside  the 
grating  large  logs  are  smouldering  slowly  in  the  damp 
night-air.  As  he  looks  down  on  the  dark  waters,  with 
their  strange  red  glow  on  every  wave  and  the  wash  on 
the  bank,  he  perceives  here  and  there  enormous  blocks 
of  stone  nearly  rising  to  the  surface,  which  threaten  the 
little  skiffs  with  destruction,  and  are  formidable  even  to 
steamers  ;  and  now  he  understands  the  friendly  meaning 
of  the  warning  fire  on  high. 

He  has  seen  here,  in  the  heart  of  Europe,  in  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  precise  form  and  shape  of 
the  most  ancient  light-house  that  is  known  to  our  annals. 

So,  at  least,  we  judge  from  the  records  left  us  in  many 
a  parchment  and  the  designs  cut  on  ancient  medals.  For 
the  light-houses  of  antiquity  have,  unfortunately,  crum- 
bled into  dust  and  debris  with  the  Roman  Empire  itself, 
and  all  that  we  know  of  them  we  have  gathered  pain- 
fully from  the  numerous  but  vague  descriptions  of  their 
contemporaries.  As  with  many  other  things,  so  here 
also  we  would  willingly  exchange  the  many  words  for  a 
few  stones.  The  science  and  the  ingenuity  of  a  Rawlin- 
son  and  a  Layard  would  have  read  more  in  a  handful  of 
carved  rocks  that  once  belonged  to  the  foundation  of  an 
ancient  light-house  than  we  can  learn  from  countless 
pages  written  on  the  subject. 

The  Greeks  attributed  the  first  structures  of  the  kind, 
almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  their  favorite  Hercules, 


250  '  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

whose  greatest  labor  must  have  been  to  bear  the  burden 
of  all  the  wondrous  things  he  was  said  to  have  accom- 
plished. But  even  he  can  hardly  have  been  thought  the 
builder  of  the  numerous  beautiful  towers  raised  by  the 
Libyans  and  the  Cushites,  who  dwelt  in  the  provinces  of 
Lower  Egypt,  for  the  purpose  of  bearing  great  fires  on 
their  summits.  Guiding  stars  in  the  night,  they  served 
in  the  day-time  as  points  of  observation ;  and  many  are 
the  weighty  facts  of  astronomy,  on  which  all  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  universe  depends,  that  were  here  first  ascer- 
tained and  recorded  by  the  sages  of  antiquity.  But  as 
knowledge  was  in  those  days  not  only  power,  as  with  us, 
but  worshipped  as  divine,  these  famous  towers  were  tem- 
ples also,  and  bore  each  the  name  of  some  great  divinity, 
while  grateful  sailors,  rescued  from  danger  and  death, 
enriched  them  with  their  votive  offerings.  Modern  specu- 
lation has  added  still  another  attraction  to  these  mys- 
terious buildings — it  looks  upon  them  as  depositories  of 
all  the  geographical  knowledge  possessed  by  the  ancients, 
where  maps  of  the  coast  and  charts  of  the  navigation  of 
the  Nile  were  preserved,  first  simply  drawn  upon  the 
walls  of  the  building,  and  afterward  transferred  to 
papyrus  rolls.  It  was  thus  that  those  temples  were 
transformed  into  learned  schools,  and  the  priests  changed 
into  teachers,  who  imparted  the  knowledge  of  hydro- 
graphy, and  taught  the  art  of  sailing  vessels  by  the 
guidance  of  the  stars.  These  venerable  towers  were 
therefore  light-houses  in  more  than  one  sense.  Within, 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  251 

the  bright  light  of  knowledge  was  diffused  by  zealous 
priests  and  learned  sages,  to  go  forth  to  all  the  nations 
that  then  navigated  the  one  great  sea  of  the  civilized 
world — the  Mediterranean.  Without,  a  machine  of  iron 
or  bronze,  consisting  of  three  or  four  branches  in  the 
shape  of  a  dolphin,  or  some  other  marine  animal,  and 
connected  with  each  other  by  garlands  of  beautiful 
foliage,  contained  large  masses  of  fuel,  which  were  faith- 
fully watched  over  and  renewed  during  the  dark  nights. 
A  long  iron  bar  of  great  strength,  moving  on  a  hinge  so 
as  to  enable  the  priest  to  draw  the  colossal  brazier  to  him, 
supported  the  bronze  basket.  The  seas  then  swarmed 
with  small  vessels ;  and  as  each  one  of  these  also  bore 
its  fiery  signal  on  the  bow,  to  avoid  disasters  by  night, 
and  to  show  by  its  size  and  its  height  on  the  vessel  the 
rank  of  the  owner,  fire  greeted  fire  with  delight,  and  the 
whole  scene  must  have  been  one  of  great  beauty  and 
interest. 

What  these  early  light-houses  were  called  is  a  matter 
of  great  dispute  among  the  savans  of  our  day,  but  does 
not,  after  all,  matter  much  for  practical  purposes.  Some, 
it  is  said,  were  named  Tor  by  the  Libyans ;  others, 
which  occupied  the  highest  eminence  within  the  walls  of 
a  city,  bore  the  name  of  Bosrah,  a  title  which  was  after- 
ward transferred  to  the  citadel  of  Carthage.  When  they 
were  situated  in  the  open  country  they  were  generally 
built  in  the  form  of  round  towers,  and  then  known  as 
Tith ;  and  the  pretty  legend  was  long  current  that  the 


252  WONDERS  or  THE  DEEP. 

myth  of  the  Cyclopes,  killed  by  the  shafts  of  the  sun-god 
Apoflo,  meant  nothing  more  than  the  manner  in  which 
the  lights  that  burned  on  the  Cyclopean  towers  along 
the  south  coast  of  Sicily  were  extinguished  by  the  rays 
of  the  rising  sun. 

The  first  regular  light-house  which  is  even  honored 
with  the  supposition  that  it  had  already  a  revolving 
light,  is  one  represented  in  the  Iliac  Table  and  ascribed 
to  the  Ninth  Olympiad.  Its  fame,  however,  dimmed  by 
the  remoteness  of  its  existence,  was  entirely  eclipsed  by 
a  later  one,  which  has  given  its  name  in  French  and 
other  languages  to  the  whole  class  of  similar  buildings, 
even  as  Columbus  lost  the  glory  of  leaving  his  name  to 
our  Continent.  This  tower  stood  on  the  island  of  Pharos, 
near  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  and  became  subsequently  the 
model  after  which  all  structures  of  the  kind  were  built 
for  many  centuries.  Such  was  the  case,  we  know  with 
certainty,  when  poor  old  Claudius  built  the  famous  tower 
at  Ostia,  which  seems  to  have  been  the  most  beautiful 
among  the  many  that  lighted  up  the  coasts  of  Italy. 
And  yet  Rome  seems  to  have  hung  out  her  shining  bea- 
cons with  the  same  solid  splendor  that  characterized 
all  her  noble  structures  at  home  and  in  the  provinces ; 
for  we  read  in  Pliny  of  the  superb  towers  of  Puteoli  and 
Ravenna,  and  we  know  all  about  the  great  light-house 
at  Messina,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  straits  between 
Italy  and  Sicily,  where  the  far-famed  rocks  of  Scylla  and 
Charybdis  were  still  the  terror  of  sea-faring  men.  The 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STOKIES.  253 

magnificent  temple,  finally,  which  Tiberius  in  one  of  his 
caprices  built  in  the  very  midst  of  his  twelve  magnifi- 
cent villas  on  Capri,  was  one  of  almost  fairy-like  beauty, 
and  with  its  grand  blazing  fire  lighted  up  the  sea  for 
miles  and  miles,  so  that  the  poor  fishermen  of  the  islands 
began  to  dread  its  weird  splendor,  as  if  it  dared  to  defy  the 
gods  themselves,  and  believed  more  than  ever  in  its  magic 
nature  when  an  earthquake  levelled  it  to  the  ground, 
a  few  days  only  before  the  death  of  the  terrible  tyrant. 

How  sadly  even  then  already  the  benevolent  offorts  of 
wise  and  sagacious  men  were  defeated  by  the  wicked- 
ness of  others  we  learn  from  the  description  of  another 
celebrated  light-house,  which  stood  on  a  lofty  promon- 
tory where  the  river  Chrysorrhoas  threw  itself  into  the 
Thracian  Bosphorus.  "  At  the  top  of  the  hill,"  says  Dio- 
nysius  the  Byzantine,  "  around  the  base  of  which  the  river 
flows,  stands  the  tower  Timaeus,  of  marvellous  height, 
from  whence  one  overlooks  a  vast  expanse  of  water,  and 
which  has  been  built  for  the  purpose  of  insuring  the 
safety  of  those  who  sail  on  it,  by  kindling  large  fires  on 
the  summit  for  their  guidance.  This  was  all  the  more 
necessary  as  there  were  no  harbors  on  either  side,  and 
anchors  could  find  no  bottom  on  which  to  fasten  their 
flukes.  But  the  barbarians  along  the  coast  lit  other  fires 
at  the  highest  parts  of  the  shore,  in  order  to  deceive  the 
sailors  and  to  profit  by  their  shipwreck.  Now  the  tower 
is  in  ruins,  and  no  light  shines  any  more  from  its 
summit." 


254:  WONDERS  OF  THE  E>EEP. 

We  know  but  little  of  the  precise  form  of  these  an- 
cient light-houses.  Herodian,  it  is  true,  asserts  that  they 
were  built  in  the  same  manner  as  the  catafalques  of  the 
emperors,  but  the  latter  were  square  constructions, 
adorned  on  four  sides  with  paintings  and  sculptures, 
while  the  light-houses  were,  at  least  in  many  cases,  built 
in  the  shape  of  round  towers.  As  such  they  appear  on 
the  only  two  ancient  coins  or  medals  on  which  a  Roman 
port  with  a  Pharos  is  represented.  In  both  instances 
the  latter  consists  of  a  round  structure  of  massive  stone, 
rising  in  four  stories,  diminishing  toward  the  top,  and 
crowned  on  the  summit  with  a  blazing  fire. 

More  is  known  of  the  great  Pharos  itself — for  so  it 
soon  was  called  universally — which  Ptolemseus  Philadel- 
phus  is  said  to  have  built  on  the  tiny  island  of  that 
name  which  lies  in  the  shallow  waters  near  Alexandria ; 
for  it  became  so  famous  in  times  of  antiquity  by  its  colos- 
sal size  and  magnificence  of  ornament  that  it  was  placed 
among  the  Seven  Wonders  of  the  World.  A  few  old 
writers,  it  is  true,  are  gallant  enough  to  ascribe  the  beau- 
tiful building  to  the  good  taste  and  wise  foresight  of  the 
dusky  queen,  Cleopatra,  the  Mary  Stuart  of  antiquity ; 
but  modern  authorities  are  little  influenced  by  deference 
to  the  sex,  and  stoutly  deny  her  claims  to  such  a  distinc- 
tion. A  good  Benedictine  monk,  Dom  Bernard  of  Mont- 
faucon,  adds  still  another  romance  to  the  famous  tower, 
and  recounts  how  the  ingenious  builder  of  the  tower, 
Sostrates,  succeeded  by  a  clever  stratagem  in  handing 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  255 

down  his  own  name  to  posterity,  while  that  of  the  great 
king,  for  whom  he  acted  as  architect,  became  dim  and 
doubtful  in  succeeding  ages.  He  cut,  it  is  said,  the 
words  "  Sostrates  of  Cnidus,  son  of  Dexiphanes  ;  to  the 
gods  who  save  sea-faring  men,"  deep  into  the  hard  stone 
on  the  face  of  the  temple,  and  then  covered  the  inscrip- 
tion with  a  slight  coating  of  perishable  material,  on 
which  the  name  of  King  Ptolemaeus  was  written  in  gi- 
gantic characters.  The  coating  and  the  name  fell  off  in 
a  short  time  under  the  influence  of  wind  and  weather, 
and  nothing  was  seen  but  the  legend  that  gave  all  the 
glory  to  Sostrates. 

The  story,  if  not  true,  is  well  devised,  as  the  Italians 
say,  and  has  found  ready  believers  in  all  ages,  few  men 
being  willing  to  admit  that  even  among  sovereigns  such 
modesty  could  be  found  as  would  induce  them  voluntarily 
to  relinquish  the  gratitude  of  posterity  in  favor  of  a  mere 
servant.  Other  savans  of  our  day,  and  among  them  men 
of  the  highest  authority,  like  Champollion,  have  tried  to 
escape  from  the  dilemma  by  giving  the  honor  to  another 
Ptolemy ;  but  we  are  disposed  to  agree  with  Edrisi's 
quaint  but  solemn  conviction :  "  God  alone  knows  the 
truth  of  the  fact." 

The  tower  itself  stood  upon  a  little  island,  the  site  of 
which  is  now  covered  with  the  buildings  of  the  modern 
city  of  Alexandria.  In  those  days,  however,  the  island 
and  the  town  were  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  apart,  a 
distance  which  Homer  poetically  enlarges  to  a  day's 


256  WONDERS  OP  THE  I)EEP. 

journey  from  Egypt.  At  a  later  period  the  island  was 
connected  with  the  main  land  by  a  long  causeway  and  a 
magnificent  bridge.  According  to  the  minute  but  very 
obscure  descriptions  which  we  find  here  and  there  scat- 
tered in  the  works  of  ancient  authors,  the  tower  consisted, 
like  Babel  itself,  of  several  vaulted  stories,  and,  if 
we  are  to  believe  Pliny,  the  cost  of  erecting  it  amounted 
to  the  almost  fabulous  sum  of  eight  hundred  talents. 

The  very  fact  of  its  existence,  however,  has  been 
doubted ;  how  much  more  uncertain,  then,  must  be  its 
identity  ?  It  may  have  continued  as  late  as  the  twelfth 
century,  since  Edrisi,  the  famous  geographer  of  Nubia, 
who  united  in  his  person  the  rare  lore  of  the  Arabs  with 
the  gentle  science  of  the  Sicilian  capital,  has  seen  it. 
"  This  Pharos,"  he  says  "  has  not  its  like  in  the  world,  as 
far  as  its  construction  and  its  solidity  are  concerned ;  for, 
independently  of  the  fact  that  it  is  built  of  an  excellent 
kind  of  stone,  the  courses  of  these  blocks  are  joined  to 
each  other  by  means  of  molten  lead,  and  the  joints  are  so 
closely  adherent  to  each  other  that  the  whole  is  impervi- 
ous, although  the  waves  of  the  sea  beat  on  the  northern 
side  incessantly  against  the  building.  The  ascent  to  the 
top  is  made  by  a  staircase  built  in  the  interior,  and  as 
wide  as  ordinary  stairs  are  in  other  towers.  But  the 
steps  only  go  half  way  up  the  monument,  and  there  the 
building  becomes,  from  the  four  sides,  narrower  than 
below.  In  the  interior,  and  under  the  staircase,  there  are 
several  rooms.  From  the  gallery  upward  the  light  house 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  257 

rises  straight  to  the  summit,  becoming  smaller  and 
smaller,  until  at  the  top  a  man  can  span  it  with  his  arms. 
From  this  same  gallery  you  ascend  by  means  of  a  second 
staircase,  but  of  much  smaller  dimensions  than  the  lower 
one,  and  lighted  by  means  of  small  windows  in  the  outer 
wall,  so  as  to  give  light  to  the  persons  who  ascend,  and 
to  enable  them  to  place  their  feet  securely  on  the  step." 

The  fire  was  kept  burning  continually,  appearing  by 
night  like  a  brilliant  star,  visible  to  the  enormous  dis- 
tance of  nearly  a  hundred  miles,  and  rising  by  day  in  the 
shape  of  a  dark  cloud  to  the  heavens.  This  resemblance 
to  a  star  seems  to  have  been  as  fatal  in  those  days  as  it 
still  is  in  our  time ;  for  Edrisi  says  that  many  sailors  had 
mistaken  the  fire  for  a  well-known  star,  and  directed  their 
course  accordingly,  in  consequence  of  which  they  had 
wrecked  their  vessels  on  the  sand-spits  near  the  shore. 
To  avoid  similar  errors  in  our  day  many  light-houses  are 
provided  with  two  lights,  one  above  the  other,  so  that 
neither  can  be  mistaken  for  a  constellation. 

The  credulous  Benedictine,  whom  we  have  quoted  be- 
fore, has  his  goodly  store  of  romances  in  connection  with 
this  great  light-house  also.  He  had  learned  from  Arabs  and 
sailors  of  other  nations  that,  according  to  popular  tradi- 
tion, Sostrates  built  the  colossal  tower,  for  greater  safety, 
on  four  immense  crabs  of  glass !  Nor  is  the  monk  alone 
in  his  statement,  for  greater  authorities  also  repeat  the 
same  story  on  the  faith  of  an  ancient  manuscript,  which 
pretends  to  give  an  authentic  account  of  the  Seven  Won- 


258  WONDERS  OF  THE  BEEP. 

ders,  and  was  actually  studied  by  the  learned  Voss. 
Another  marvellous  story  connected  with  the  building, 
and  long  faithfully  believed  in,  is  the  report  that  Alex- 
ander the  Great  caused  a  mirror  to  be  placed  on  top  of 
the  tower,  which  was  constructed  with  such  wonderful 
art  that  it  showed  on  its  highly  polished  surface  every 
object  at  a  distance  of  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  and 
thus  enabled  him  to  recognize  the  hostile  fleets  that  came 
to  attack  Egypt  days  before  their  actual  arrival.  The 
mirror,  it  was  added,  was  destroyed  by  a  daring  Greek, 
who  availed  himself  for  the  purpose  of  an  opportune  mo- 
ment when  the  whole  garrison  was  asleep.  The  only 
difficulty  in  the  way  is  the  fact  that  the  great  Pharos  had 
not  yet  been  built  in  the  days  of  Alexander,  and  hence 
the  good  Benedictine  winds  up  his  account  of  this  tale 
with  the  words :  "  It  is  rather  in  the  genius  of  Orientals 
to  invent  such  unreasonably  marvellous  things." 

There  is  but  one  other  light-house  mentioned  in  the 
annals  of  antiquity  of  equal  interest  with  the  Alexan- 
drian tower.  Roman  writers  of  indisputable  authority 
tell  us  that  when  the  mad  Emperor  Caligula  returned 
from  his  fantastic  expedition  into  England,  which  never 
went  further  than  to  the  shores  of  the  Channel,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  picking  up  of  a  few  shells,  and  laying  these 
spoils  of  the  ocean  at  their  commander's  feet,  he  ordered 
a  light-house  to  be  erected  in  honor  of  the  fictitious  vic- 
tory, to  guide  vessels  by  night  into  the  harbor  that  had 
been  the  scene  of  the  glorious  exploit.  The  place  became 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  259 

subsequently  more  and  more  famous,  and  in  the  days  of 
the  great  Napoleon  was  once  more  the  scene  of  a  vast 
assemblage  of  troops  ready  to  invade  England  and  to 
conquer  the  kingdom. 

This  famous  tower  of  Boulogne  shed  its  light  for  cen- 
turies over  the  stormy  waves  of  the  Channel.  Already 
in  191  it  was  revered  for  its  blessed  influence ;  and 
Commodus  caused  a  medal  to  be  struck  on  which  the 
light-house  and  the  departure  of  a  Roman  fleet  appear, 
in  company  with  his  victorious  title  of  Britannicus.  Its 
prestige  continued  as  long  as  Boulogne  remained  the 
favorite  place  of  embarkation  for  all  the  Roman  troops 
that  went  over  from  Gaul  to  Britain.  It  appears  next  in 
the  annals  of  Charlemagne,  whose  wise  policy  neglected 
no  means  of  enlightenment,  from  the  material  fire  on  light- 
house and  beacon  to  the  spiritual  light  which  was  dif- 
fused by  the  countless  schools  he  endowed  in  his  vast 
empire.  The  place  grew,  and  became  in  course  of  time 
a  fortified  place,  as  important  by  its  vast  works  of  forti- 
fication as  by  its  natural  position,  which  commands  the 
Channel  in  front  and  the  two  banks  of  the  little  river 
Liane,  which  there  falls  into  the  Channel.  The  good 
people  of  the  neighborhood  were  so  deeply  impressed 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  wonderful  tower,  and  especially 
with  its  great  height,  that  they  stood  in  constant  fear 
lest  the  lightning  from  heaven  should  destroy  it,  as  it 
had  done  with  the  tower  of  Babel.  But  its  final  destruc- 
tion came  from  the  carelessness  of  the  very  men  who 


260  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

were  proudest  of  its  magnificence.  Although  the  sea 
beat  incessantly  against  the  foundation,  and  at  the  time 
of  high  tides  even  against  the  sides  of  the  tower,  no  pro- 
tection was  ever  raised  toward  the  Channel ;  a  number 
of  springs,  besides,  worked  underground,  and  undermined 
the  structure  slowly  but  surely  ;  and,  as  if  these  agencies 
had  not  been  threatening  enough,  large  quarries  were 
opened  in  the  very  hill  on  which  the  light-house  rested, 
till  at  last  the  fortress,  the  tower,  and  the  very  cliff  on 
which  the  whole  had  been  erected,  fell  one  fine  day  and 
tumbled  into  the  sea.  The  catastrophe  was  followed  by 
a  most  ludicrous  lawsuit  between  the  lord  of  the  soil  and 
the  town  of  Boulogne,  which  had  heretofore  paid  him  a 
certain  rental.  As  the  soil  had  disappeared,  the  citizens 
considered  themselves  relieved  of  all  obligations  toward 
the  owner ;  but  the  latter  carried  the  suit  up  to  the  Royal 
Parliament,  which  in  1656  condemned  the  city  either  to 
pay,  as  heretofore,  two  thousand  herrings  annually,  or 
to  restore  the  place  to  its  former  condition.  As  such  a 
restoration  was  not  exactly  in  their  power,  it  seems  that 
they  paid  the  herrings  down  to  the  days  of  the  French 
Revolution.  The  tower  has  in  recent  times  been  re- 
placed by  an  elegant  light-house  with  several  lights ; 
and  though  less  famous  than  in  days  of  old,  it  still  ren- 
ders eminent  service  to  the  numerous  vessels  that  nightly 
pass  the  populous  town. 

Nearly  opposite  to  the  work  of  Caligula  there  rose, 
near  Dover,  a  sister  tower,  built  like  the  former  by  the 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  261 

hands  of  Romans,  and  like  it  destined  to  perish  inglori- 
ously  by  neglect  and  false  economy.  Its  very  place  is 
uncertain,  as  some  antiquarians  recognize  it  in  the  large, 
heavy  tower  which  rises  almost  from  the  centre  of  the 
grim  castle,  while  others  discover  its  ruins  in  the  great 
mass  of  debris,  of  mortar  and  stones,  which  lies  nearer 
to  the  town,  and  is  often  called  the  Devil's  Drop  by  the 
common  people.  From  both  points  the  light  could,  no 
doubt,  have  been  seen  far  away,  as  the  cliff  is  high 
enough  "to  look  fearfully  in  the  confined  deep,"  and 
even  from  the  lower  terraces  the  coast  of  France  may 
on  a  clear  day  be  seen  distinctly. 

Not  one  of  the  three  ancient  ligh-houses  which  we 
have  mentioned  can,  however,  for  a  moment  be  compared 
in  magnitude  and  historic  interest  with  the  famous, 
though  more  than  half  fabulous,  Colossus  of  Rhodes. 
Two  thousand  years  ago  Thucydides  already  complained 
that  men  received  what  others  said  about  past  events, 
even  of  their  own  country,  with  too  great  indifference, 
and  in  their  indolence  preferred  to  adopt  what  was  thus 
presented  without  examination  rather  than  to  take  the 
trouble  of  searching  for  truth.  This  experience  has 
been  amply  proved  by  the  long-credited  reports  about 
the  Colossus. 

Tradition  has  it,  as  is  well  known,  that  at  the  entrance 
to  the  port  of  Rhodes  there  was  standing  a  gigantic 
statue  of  Apollo,  with  outstretched  legs,  one  foot  resting 
on  a  lower  mole,  and  the  other  on  a  higher  ;  holding  a 


262  WONDEBS    OF  THE   DEEP. 

bow  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other,  raised  high  above  his 
head,  an  immense  basin,  in  which  a  large  fire  was  con- 
stantly maintained.  The  size  of  the  statue,  report 
added,  was  so  colossal  that  the  largest  vessels  could 
easily  pass  between  the  legs. 

The  facts  unfortunately  are,  that  the  Colossus  of 
Rhodes  never  served  as  a  light-house,  and  that  vessels 
never  passed  beneath  it  into  the  harbor. 

The  whole  story  rests  upon  the  highly  romantic  ac- 
count found  in  a  very  indifferent  compiler  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  who  for  the  first  time  mentions  the  Colos- 
sus as  serving  as  a  light-house,  but  carefully  abstains 
from  giving  his  authority  for  the  statement.  Another 
writer,  of  even  less  judgment,  a  translator  of  Philostrates, 
added  subsequently  the  story  of  the  vessels  passing  be- 
tween the  outstretched  legs  of  the  statue.  This  author, 
also,  is  discreetly  silent  as  to  the  source  from  which  he 
has  derived  his  information. 

What,  then,  is  the  truth  about  the  Colossus  ?  There 
is  no  lack  of  reliable  statements  concerning  the  statue. 
Strabo  quotes  a  fragment  of  an  epigram  in  Iambic  verses, 
in  which  the  name  of  the  architect,  Chares,  from  Lindos, 
a  town  on  the  island  of  Rhodes,  and  the  dimensions  of 
his  great  work,  seventy  yards  height,  are  both  men- 
tioned. He  adds  that  the  Colossus  was,  in  his  day, 
lying  on  the  ground,  having  been  overthrown  by  a  fear- 
ful earthquake,  which  destroyed  a  large  portion  of  the 
city.  "The  Rhodians,"  he  says,  "dared  not  raise  it 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  263 

again,  warned  by  an  oracle,"  and  that  is  literally  all  the 
illustrious  geographer  seems  to  have  learned  about  the 
Colossus.  Pliny,  however,  gives  us  additional  and  in- 
teresting details.  "  The  statue,"  he  says,  "  fell  fifty-six 
years  after  its  erection ;  but  although  thrown  down  it  is 
still  a  marvel.  Few  men  are  able  with  their  arms  to  span 
its  thumb ;  its  fingers  are  larger  than  most  of  our  stat- 
ues. Its  disjointed  limbs  form  vast  caverns,  and  in  the 
inside  are  yet  to  be  seen  enormous  masses  of  stone,  by 
means  of  which  it  had  been  balanced.  They  say  it  cost 
three  hundred  talents — a  sum  which  the  Rhodians  oV 
tained  from  the  sale  of  instruments  of  war,  left  by  Deme- 
trius before  their  city  when  he  abandoned  the  siege  in 
despair."  A  clever  engineer  of  the  third  century  before 
Christ,  Philo  of  Byzantium,  is  the  third  author  who 
gives,  in  his  interesting  work  on  the  Seven  Wonders  of 
the  World — if  it  really  is  his — a  still  more  detailed  de- 
scription of  the  statue ;  but,  as  has  been  seen,  not  one 
of  these  writers  speaks  either  of  a  light-house,  or  of  the 
marvellous  fact  that  ships  could  have  sailed  beneath  the 
Colossus. 

For  nine  hundred  years  the  gigantic  limbs  remained 
lying  near  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  the  pride  of  the 
inhabitants  and  the  wonder  of  all  travellers.  In  672, 
however,  the  Arabs  came,  in  the  rapture  of  their  first 
successes,  to  Rhodes  also ;  and  their  general,  one  of  Oth- 
man's  lieutenants,  caused  the  pieces  to  be  cut  up,  and 
sold  the  metal  to  a  Jew,  who  is  said  to  have  loaded  nine 


264  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

hundred  camels  with  the  precious  burden.  Thus  every 
trace  was  lost  of  the  far-famed  statue,  and  even  the  name 
of  the  artist  was  long  lost,  although  "  he  had  made  a 
god  like  unto  a  god,  and  given  a  second  sun  to  the 
world." 

Far  different  from  these  works  of  antiquity  are,  of 
course,  the  light-houses  of  our  day,  in  which  modern 
science  has  achieved  some  of  its  most  brilliant  triumphs. 
England  stands  naturally  foremost  in  the  number  of  such 
buildings  and  their  mechanical  perfection ;  for  they  are 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  her  vast  shipping  interests, 
upon  which  her  great  prosperity  is  mainly  resting.  It  is 
in  England  also  that,  first  of  all  European  countries,  the 
building  and  manner  of  lighting  these  towers  were  made 
a  matter  of  grave  state  interest.  The  care  for  light- 
houses is  there  intrusted  to  a  separate  board  in  each  of 
the  three  great  kingdoms,  among  which,  however,  the 
Corporation  of  Trinity  House,  which  controls  those  on 
the  English  coast,  is  naturally  by  far  the  most  important. 
Unfortunately  little  is  known  as  to  the  early  history  of 
this  remarkable  body,  since  a  disastrous  fire  in  1714  de- 
stroyed the  larger  part  of  its  archives.  We  only  know 
that  it  owed  its  existence  to  a  charter  granted  by  Henry 
VHL,  in  which  it  is  called  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Trin- 
ity House  of  Deptford,  of  Strand,  and  St.  Clement.  The 
document  begins  with  the  quaint  words  :  "  According 
to  the  sincere  and  perfect  love  and  like  devotion  which 
we  bear  the  most  glorious  and  invisible  Holy  Trinity, 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STOEIES.  265 

and  also  Saint  Clement  the  Confessor,  his  Majesty  grants 
and  gives  license  for  the  establishment  of  a  corporation 
or  perpetual  brotherhood,  to  certain  subjects  of  his  and 
to  their  associates,  men  and  women." 

Originally  the  sole  duty  of  these  members,  men  and 
women,  seems  to  have  been  confined  to  the  saying  of 
prayers  for  the  souls  of  drowned  seamen,  and  for  the 
lives  of  those  who  go  down  the  great  deep.  Soon,  how- 
ever, more  practical  services  were  rendered  by  the  Cor- 
poration, as  appears  from  numerous  successive  charters 
granted  by  later  sovereigns.  The  members  were  gradu- 
ally intrusted  with  a  general  superintendence  over  all 
mercantile  vessels,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  even  over  the 
royal  fleet. 

The  people  had,  however,  anticipated  their  action  in 
erecting  light-houses,  and  long  before  the  Corporation 
took  the  matter  in  hand  beacons  had  been  lighted  all 
along  the  coast,  and  were  growing  in  number  as  if  by 
magic.  Not  that  the  English  of  those  days  were  so 
wondrously  solicitous  for  the  lives  of  their  seafaring 
brethren,  or  so  peculiarly  zealous  in  the  love  of  their 
neighbors.  The  erection  of  a  light-house  entitled  them, 
by  a  provision  of  ancient  laws,  to  the  right  of  levying  a 
heavy  duty  from  all  vessels  who  passed  by  the  danger- 
ous place  and  profited  by  the  light  they  had  provided. 
Fortunately  in  this  case  the  interest  of  the  few  became 
the  advantage  of  the  many,  and  although  after  James  I. 

tjie  crown  claimed  the  exclusive  right  of  erecting  light- 
12 


266  WONDEES    OF   THE   DEEP. 

houses  and  collecting  taxes  for  their  support,  the  num- 
ber has  never  been  seriously  diminished.  For  the  sove- 
reigns found  it  as  profitable  as  it  was  wise  to  grant  or 
sell  the  monopoly  to  private  individuals,  and  soon  there 
was  not  a  bare  rock  or  hidden  reef  which  was  not  laid 
hold  of  by  some  speculator  in  order  to  build  on  it  a  light- 
house and  collect  the  dues.  Thus  Lord  Grenville  could 
find  it  necessary  to  make  this  entry  in  his  note-book : 
"  To  watch  the  moment  when  the  king  is  in  good-humor, 
to  ask  him  for  a  light-house ! " 

Unfortunately  the  system  worked  badly.  Some  of  the 
fires  were  insufficient,  others  were  neglected  for  weeks 
and  months,  and  in  all  cases  the  duties  levied  on  vessels 
were  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  expenses  actually  incur- 
red. This  led  finally,  under  William  IV.,  to  measures 
which  resulted  in  a  grant  to  Trinity  House  of  all  the  royal 
light-houses,  and  of  the  right  to  purchase  those  that  be- 
longed to  private  individuals.  Fortunately  the  Corpora- 
tion  was  rich  and  could  afford  the  heavy  outlay  required, 
especially  as  they  continued  to  raise  heavy  tolls  from  all 
vessels. 

The  Corporation  is  nowadays  divided  into  two  classes, 
of  which  one,  the  Younger  Brethren,  numbering  361,  are 
virtually  excluded  irom  all  practical  participation  in  the 
business  of  the  society,  while  the  Elder  Brethren,  31  in 
number,  with  the  exception  of  eleven  honorary  members, 
are  the  true  managers  of  the  whole  department.  These 
twenty  working  men  are  chosen  from  the  great  body  of 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STOKIES.  267 

the  Younger  Brethren ;  they  must  have  served  at  least 
four  years  as  captains  in  command  of  large  vessels,  and 
pay  a  small  entrance-fee  upon  their  admission.  To  them 
is  intrusted  the  whole  care  of  keeping  the  coasts  well 
provided  with  light-houses ;  besides  which  they  examine 
and  license  pilots,  watch  over  the  navigation  of  the 
Thames,  establish  and  maintain  all  sea-marks,  admit  the 
pupils  of  Christ  Hospital  who  enter  the  navy,  collect  the 
revenues  of  the  Corporation,  and  provide  for  the  pen- 
sioners in  their  numerous  asylums.  The  corresponding 
boards  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  are  simpler  in  their  nature, 
and  more  or  less  under  the  control  of  Trinity  House. 
England  has  one  light-house  for  every  fourteen  sea  miles, 
Scotland  one  for  every  thirty-nine,  and  Ireland  one  for 
every  thirty-four. 

France,  formerly  far  behind  Great  Britain  in  the  num- 
ber and  the  character  of  her  light-houses,  has  of  late  made 
such  rapid  progress  in  this  direction  that  she  has  now  one 
for  every  twelve  miles,  and  these  are  nearly  all  of  supe- 
rior construction.  The  number  of  light-houses,  which  in 
1819  amounted  only  to  ten,  has  since  risen  to  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four,  and,  like  our  own  government,  the 
French  government  also  makes  no  charge  for  light-houses, 
but  considers  the  duty  of  preventing  misfortunes  on  the 
coast  not  as  a  branch  of  public  revenue,  but  as  a  work  of 
humanity.  The  whole  department  is  under  the  direction 
of  the  three  Ministers  of  Agriculture,  Commerce,  and 
Public  Works,  and  represented  by  a  board  consisting  of 


268  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

navy  officers,  engineers,  members  of  the  Institute,  and 
other  persons  renowned  in  the  sciences  which  bear  upon 
navigation.  Of  our  own  Light-house  Board  little  need 
be  said  here,  as,  like  the  Coast  Survey,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  branches  of  our  administration,  and 
looked  upon  abroad  as  one  of  the  best  models,  which  has 
been  copied,  as  far  as  the  difference  in  the  form  of  govern- 
ment would  admit,  in  several  foreign  countries. 

The  light-houses  of  our  day  are  as  varied  in  their  form 
and  nature  as  those  of  antiquity  were  simple  and  uni- 
form. Each  one  of  them  has,  as  it  were,  its  own  language, 
in  which  it  addresses  itself  to  the  anxious  sailor.  One 
bids  him  welcome  to  a  safe  harbor ;  another  warns  him 
against  a  hidden  reef.  This  tall  tower  sends  its  light  to 
a  distance  of  twenty-seven  miles  (60  to  the  degree) ;  that 
small  one  can  only  be  seen  within  a  circle  of  five  miles. 
One  has  a  fixed  light,  and  shines  forever  like  a  beautiful 
star ;  another,  more  mysterious,  suddenly  blazes  forth 
from  utter  darkness,  casts  its  welcome  light  far  into  the 
distance,  and  vanishes  as  unexpectedly,  only,  however, 
to  reappear  a  few  moments  afterward,  brighter  than  ever, 
on  the  horizon.  Nor  have  all  of  them  the  same  color. 
Some  are  red,  others  white,  green,  or  blue. 

In  spite  of  this  great  variety  among  them  all,  there  is 
nevertheless  a  general  principle  which  governs  their  dis- 
tribution. Almost  all  more  enlightened  governments 
have  found  it  necessary  to  surround  the  coast  with  a 
triple  circle  of  lights.  The  first  of  these  consists  of  light- 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  269 

houses  of  the  largest  class,  and  simply  serves  to  define 
the  outline  of  the  main  land,  so  that  the  sailor  arriving 
from  the  high  seas  may  at  once  be  made  aware  of  the 
vicinity  of  land,  and  thus  be  enabled  to  avoid  the  dangers 
which  thicken  as  he  comes  nearer  in  shore.  Hence  all 
the  great  capes  which  stretch  out  more  or  less  far  into 
the  ocean,  the  low  islands,  reefs  or  sunken  rocks*  which 
threaten  vessels  with  destruction,  are  chosen,  and  on  these 
promontories  or  rocks  light-houses  are  erected  at  such 
easy  distances  from  each  other  that  no  vessel  can  well 
approach  the  land,  unless  it  be  in  a  thick  fog,  without 
seeing  one  or  the  other.  When  the  first  circle  is  passed 
the  sailor  encounters  a  second  and  a  third  range  of  lights, 
of  inferior  size  and  shorter  range,  which  warn  him  against 
smaller  reefs  or  sand-bars,  or  point  out  to  him  the  often 
very  narrow  entrance  to  the  harbor  into  which  he  wishes 
to  enter.  Thus  the  Thames  is  literally  brilliantly  lighted 
up  from  Gravesend  to  the  London  docks,  and  the  mouth 
of  the  Gironde  presents  not  less  than  thirteen  light-houses 
of  the  three  classes.  Finally,  when  the  vessel  has  ac- 
tually entered  into  the  narrow  channel,  a  fourth  class  of 
still  smaller  beacon-lights  greets  it  and  guides  it  safely 
to  its  precise  landing-place  in  the  "  desired  haven." 

Difficulties,  however,  seemed  to  multiply  in  proportion 
to  the  increased  number  of  lights,  for  it  became  more 
and  more  troublesome  to  distinguish  one  from  the  other ; 
and  yet  a  slight  mistake  of  this  kind  might  lead,  and 
often  did  lead,  to  total  destruction.  Formerly  this  dan- 


270  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

ger  was  guarded  against  by  having  three  kinds  of  light 
— fixed  lights  burning  steadily,  and  revolving  lights  with 
intervals  of  a  minute  or  half  a  minute.  But  this  differ- 
ence soon  ceased  to  be  of  practical  value,  partly  because 
the  number  of  light-houses  increased  too  rapidly,  and 
partly  because  merchantmen  were  too  careless  in  notic- 
ing the  small  distinction  in  point  of  time.  It  was  in  this 
embarrassment  that  Fresnel  came  to  the  rescue,  and 
made  his  name  famous  by  the  great  improvements  he  in- 
troduced. Now  there  are  seven  different  kinds  of  light 
in  use :  permanent  lights ;  lights  with  a  blaze,  which 
show  alternatively  five  blazes  and  five  eclipses,  or  more, 
in  a  minute ;  varied  lights,  which  show  a  fixed  light 
succeeded  by  a  white  or  red  blaze  at  intervals  varying 
from  one  and  two  to  three  or  four  minutes ;  revolving 
lights,  intermittent,  alternating,  and  scintillating  lights. 
Revolving  lights  increase  gradually  until  they  show  to 
their  full  power,  and  then  diminish  into  utter  darkness, 
after  which  they  grow  once  more  in  brilliancy,  and  thus 
they  continue  at  regular  intervals.  In  intermittent 
lights,  on  the  other  hand,  the  light  appears  all  of  a  sud- 
den out  of  perfect  darkness,  and  disappears  as  suddenly 
again.  The  alternating  light  appears  first  white  and 
then  red,  without  any  pause  between  the  changes  ;  while 
scintillating  light,  the  most  recent  invention,  and  due  to 
French  engineers,  appears  and  disappears  by  seconds,  and 
thus  produces  upon  the  eye  the  peculiar  effects  from 
which  it  derives  its  name. 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  271 

There  is,  of  course,  no  small  skill  and  judgment  re- 
quired, first  to  determine  the  most  important,  prominent 
points  which  have  to  be  lighted  up  in  order  to  prevent 
vessels  from  incurring  great  risks  ;  and  when  that  is  de- 
cided, to  vary  their  lights  in  such  a  manner  as  to  avoid 
one  being  taken  for  the  other.  The  number  of  light- 
houses along  a  coast  is  necessarily  limited,  not  by  any 
regard  to  expense,  as  the  saving  of  human  lives  cannot 
be  estimated  in  money,  but  by  the  difficulties  which  would 
arise  if  they  were  so  crowded  as  to  present  to  the  eye, 
at  a  distance,  nothing  but  one  confused  line  of  beacon- 
lights.  By  reducing  the  number  to  the  lowest  possible 
demand,  and  by  skilfully  varying  the  appearance  of  the 
light  in  each,  distinction  is  made  both  easy  and  sure ; 
and  in  accomplishing  this  more  ingenuity  and  labor  is 
displayed  than  is  commonly  suspected. 

Thus  when  the  light-house  has  been  properly  placed, 
the  great  question  arises,  how  it  is  to  tie  lighted.  The 
ancients,  we  have  seen,  had  very  simple  means — a  mass 
of  burning  wood  on  top  of  a  large  tower.  Their  light- 
houses were  magnificent  structures — beautiful  monuments 
of  their  skill  and  their  energy ;  but  they  accomplished 
little.  The  Middle  Ages  made  hardly  any  progress  in 
the  whole  question  of  light,  and  it  was  reserved  to  com- 
paratively recent  days  to  replace  in  our  houses  sorry  tal- 
low-candles by  bright  and  cheap  gas,  and  the  costly 
masses  of  wood  or  coal  on  the  open  summit  of  light- 
houses by  artificial  lights  covered  in  with  skilfully  con- 


272  WONDERS   OF  THE   DEEP. 

structed  glass  lanterns.  How  imperfect  the  methods 
even  of  the  last  century  still  were  may  be  judged  of  by 
the  fact  that  the  light-house  of  Cordouan,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Gironde,  and  the  finest  in  France,  diffused  with 
its  eighty  lamps,  each  burning  before  a  reflector  of  highly 
polished  metal,  so  feeble  a  light  that  the  mariners  in  1782 
unanimously  petitioned  for  a  return  to  the  barbarous 
system  of  former  centuries.  The  trouble  was,  that  the 
lamps  were  half  the  time  in  the  condition  of  those  of  the 
Foolish  Virgins,  and  even  when  well  provided  with  oil 
their  flat  wicks  gave  but  little  light,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  an  immense  quantity  of  smoke.  It  was  then  that 
Dr.  Argand,  a  distinguished  physician,  who  had  given 
much  time  and  labor  to  the  question  of  light,  invented 
the  burner  still  known  by  his  name.  A  cylindrical  wiok, 
inclosed  in  a  chimney  of  like  shape,  with  a  double  cur- 
rent of  air,  gave  all  of  a  sudden  a  light  such  as  had  never 
been  seen  before.  The  original  system  was  soon  per- 
fected in  many  details,  and  Carcel,  especially,  added  the 
method  of  overfeeding  the  lamps  with  oil,  by  which  the 
combustion  was  hastened,  and  the  vitality  of  the  wick 
very  largely  extended.  Next  came  the  turn  of  the  re- 
flectors, which  received  not  only  a  better  shape,  but  also 
a  higher  polish,  and  increased  their  efficacy  a  hundred- 
fold, when  a  method  was  invented  by  which  they  could 
be  kept  constantly  moving  around  the  lamp,  and  thus 
project  the  rays  in  every  direction.  This  beautiful  in- 
vention, first  employed  in  the  obscure  port  of  Marstrand, 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STOKIES.  273 

in  Sweden,  was  simultaneously  published  in  France  by 
Teulere,  and  at  once  very  generally  applied  to  all  light- 
houses. The  larger  number  of  European  maritime  pow- 
ers adopted  it  eagerly,  and  until  within  a  few  years  it 
was  the  only  one  used  on  the  coasts  of  Great  Britain. 
In  France  this  so-called  "  catoptric "  apparatus  is  less 
generally  employed,  and  almost  entirely  confined  to  nar- 
row passes  or  specific  purposes. 

Science,  however,  is  as  apt  and  as  quick  to  find  out 
defects  in  new  methods  as  she  is  slow  to  admit  them  at 
their  first  appearance.  It  was  soon  found  that  these 
beautiful  mirrors  not  only  were  easily  and  speedily  tarn- 
ished by  the  corrosive  influence  of  the  sea  air,  but  that 
they  also  absorbed  and  thus  exhausted  a  large  portion 
of  the  light  which  they  ought  to  have  reflected.  A 
Commission  was  appointed  by  the  French  government 
for  the  special  purpose  of  suggesting  a  remedy  for  these 
defects,  and  fortunately  the  right  man  presented  himself 
at  once,  who  possessed  all  the  requisite  knowledge  and 
genius.  This  was  Augustin  Fresnel,  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  from  childhood  up  by  his  successful 
studies  of  the  great  question  of  light,  and  had  earned 
the  admiration  of  the  great  Arago,  whom  he  aided  as 
his  secretary.  He  discovered  the  lenses  now  employed 
in  the  so:called  dioptric  apparatus,  and  found  in  an  opti- 
cian of  high  merit,  who  bore  the  significant  name  of 
Soleil  (Sun),  an  efficient  assistant  for  all  the  practical 

purposes  of  his  invention.     The  man  of  the  great  mind 
12* 


274:  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

and  the  man  of  the  skilful  hand  put.  their  united  powers 
to  the  task,  and  the  result  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
contrivances  ever  achieved.  It  is  true  that  a  name  of 
great  renown,  that  of  Brewster,  is  mentioned  in  serious 
competition  with  that  of  Fresnel,  the  English  claiming 
both  the  priority  of  invention  and  the  superiority  of  con- 
struction for  their  own  countryman ;  but,  fortunately,  the 
merits  of  both  these  illustrious  men  are  great  enough  to 
be  appreciated  by  all  the  world,  even  independently  of  the 
question  connected  with  light-house  lenses.  Moreover, 
the  improvements  patented  by  Thomas  Stevenson,  the 
great  engineer  and  builder  of  light-houses,  a  few  years 
ago,  and  generally  adopted  by  the  British  authorities, 
under  the  name  of  the  holophotal  apparatus,  surpass  all 
that  Fresnel  and  Brewster  have  ever  accomplished,  so 
far  as  to  threaten  their  names  with  comparative  obli- 
vion. 

The  lenses  can,  however,  be  truly  efficient  only  when 
the  light  which  they  reflect  is  strong  and  steady.  It 
has  been  well  said  that  as  the  light  which  shines  in  front 
of  the  building  is  the  soul  of  the  light-house,  so  the  lamp 
is  the  soul  of  the  apparatus.  Men  like  Arago  and  Fres- 
nel did  not  overlook  its  importance,  and  introduced  here 
also  great  improvements.  The  different  light-houses  are, 
however,  provided  with  different  lamps  also.  One  may 
have  a  Carcel  lamp,  in  which  the  wick  is  regularly  pro- 
vided with  oil  by  means  of  a  clock-work  in  the  lower 
part;  another  one  may  be  content  with  a  moderator 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STOEIES.  275 

lamp,  where  a  heavy  weight,  moving  a  wheel,  produces 
the  same  effect ;  still  others,  of  more  moderate  preten- 
sions, preserve  to  this  day  the  old  lamp  with  an  oil  vessel 
on  the  same  level  as  the  wick.  The  famous  savant, 
Rumford,  who  has  given  his  name  to  so  many  inventions, 
from  a  soup  to  a  chimney,  first  suggested  the  idea  of 
increasing  the  illuminating  power  of  common  lamps  by 
providing  the  burner  with  several  concentric  wicks  ;  but 
he  was  unable  to  carry  out  his  plan.  Arago  and  Fresnel 
fell  heirs  to  his  idea,  and  by  dint  of  hard  labor  succeeded 
at  last  in  carrying  it  out ;  it  is  to  them  we  owe  the  pres- 
ent improved  lamp,  which  gives  out  an  intensely  strong 
white  light,  and  yet  continues  to  work  for  more  than 
twelve  hours  without  requiring  any  attention.  The 
great  advantage  of  this  feature  can  only  be  fully  appre- 
ciated when  we  bear  in  mind  that  these  lamps  have  to 
remain  burning  during  the  whole  time  of  the  longest 
winter  nights.  Since  this  system  was  inaugurated,  light- 
houses of  the  third  class  have  lamps  with  two  concentric 
wicks';  those  of  the  second  class  have  three,  and  the 
largest  even  four  such  wicks.  It  would  be  an  error  to 
imagine  that  the  flame  itself  is  larger  than  ordinarily, 
although  the  larger  apparatus  produces  a  light  equal  to 
that  of  twenty-three  Carcel  lamps ;  the  flame  is  only 
moderate,  but  of  perfect  whiteness  and  dazzling  inten- 
sity. 

The  material  used  for  illuminating  purposes  is  oil  of 
various  kinds   in  England   and   our  own   country ;  in 


276  WONDEKS   OF  THE   DEEP. 

France  rape-seed  oil  is  almost  exclusively  used,  though 
petroleum  is  beginning  to  supersede  it  in  many  districts. 
In  one  instance  only  an  electric  light  has  been  tried ;  it 
is  far  superior  to  all  others  in  brilliancy ;  but  the  ex- 
pense is  serious,  and  the  danger  connected  with  the 
process  of  production  so  great  as  to  make  it  as  yet  un- 
profitable and  inexpedient.  There  is  no  doubt,  however, 
that  it  will  ere  long  be  made  both  cheaper  and  safer,  as 
the  electric  light  used  on  board  large  vessels,  and  first 
introduced  by  Prince  Napoleon,  has  already  proved 
itself  of  the  very  greatest  usefulness. 

If  the  light  is  the  soul  of  the  light-house,  and  as  such 
all-important,  it  has,  after  all,  to  be  clothed  in  a  body, 
and  the  house  requires  for  its  part  hardly  less  considera- 
tion. It  has  been  shown  that  in  ancient  times  the  form 
was  apt  to  be  more  or  less  fantastic  ;  in  our  day  it  mat- 
ters little  whether  the  tower  rises  on  a  lofty  promontory 
overlooking  land  and  sea,  or  on  an  isolated  rock  sur- 
rounded by  turbulent  waters ;  its  construction  is  subject 
to  certain  laws  and  rules  which  the  engineer  dare  not 
neglect.  He  must  provide  for  them  a  suitable  form,  great 
strength  and  stability,  and  perfection  in  all  details. 

The  height  of  light-houses  varies,  of  course,  according 
to  the  place  which  they  occupy ;  as  a  rule  it  has  to  be 
very  great  in  order  to  enable  mariners  to  perceive  the 
friendly  light  from  afar.  Hence  they  are  not  unfre- 
quently  placed  on  top  of  a  mountain  or  the  summit  of  a 
cliff,  and  then  the  tower  need  only  be  sufficiently  high  to 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STOEIES.  277 

rise  with  its  lantern  above  trees  and  buildings,  and  to 
be  secure  from  wanton  injury  and  the  contact  with  small 
stones  raised  by  the  tempest.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
light-house  must  necessarily  be  on  the  coast,  or  even  out 
in  the  open  sea  on  rocks  nearly  level  with  the  surface, 
then  towers  are  required  of  at  least  120  feet,  and  there 
are  structures  of  this  kind  on  the  English  and  French 
coasts  which  exceed  even  200  feet. 

The  towers  are  now  almost  always  cylindrical,  and  of 
small  diameter.  On  land  they  are  surrounded  by  build- 
ings intended  for  the  keeper  and  his  family,  the  visiting 
engineer,  and  at  times  even  for  farming  purposes.  Those 
out  at  sea  present,  of  course,  a  very  different  appearance. 
A  strange  ladder  affords  the  only  means  of  access.  It 
consists  of  strong  bars  of  copper  let  into  the  rock  of 
which  it  is  built,  and  carefully  cemented.  As  we  as- 
cend we  come  to  folding-doors  of  bronze,  heavy  enough 
to  require  the  full  strength  of  a  man  to  move  them,  and 
hermetically  closed  so  as  to  protect  the  entrance  against 
the  heaviest  swell.  A  long  narrow  passage,  looking  as 
if  it  were  cut  in  the  live  rock,  receives  us  as  we  enter  the 
lower  story  of  the  light-house.  Here  are  large  quantities 
of  wood,  ropes,  and  timber  stowed  away.  A  story  higher 
we  see  the  enormous  tanks  of  zinc  in  which  the  oil  is 
kept  which  feeds  the  lamp  above,  and  the  water  on  which 
the  life  of  the  inmates  depends.  In  the  third  story  is  the 
kitchen  and  a  store-room,  on  a  level  with  the  first  gallery 
which  runs  around  the  tower.  We  pass  the  doors  of 


278  WONDEKS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

three  small  rooms  in  which  the  keepers  live,  and  continue 
to  ascend  till  we  come  to  the  seventh  story,  where  we  are 
invited  to  rest  for  a  moment  in  a  snug  little  parlor  of  oc- 
tagonal shape.  This  is  the  room  reserved  for  the  engineer, 
who  comes  from  time  to  time  to  inspect  the  light-house. 
It  is  comfortably  furnished,  and  displays  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  furniture,  which  includes  a  large  bedstead,  all 
the  ingenuity  familiar  to  men  on  board  large  vessels. 
A  few  more  steps  on  the  spiral  staircase  lead  us  to  the 
more  important  parts  of  the  tower.  The  eighth  story 
contains  vessels  for  oil,  spare  lenses,  reserve  lamps,  and  a 
few  delicate  instruments  for  meteorological  observations. 
Here  the  staircase  ends,  and  we  see  a  low  vaulted  ceiling 
supported  on  a  slight  pillar.  A  slender  ladder  of  cast- 
iron  leads  us  into  the  room  in  which  every  night  one  of 
the  keepers  is  on  watch.  It  is  strangely  ornamented 
with  slabs  of  marble  of  various  colors,  which  cover  the 
ceiling,  the  walls,  and  even  the  floor.  We  are  told,  in 
explanation  of  this  apparent  extravagance,  that  it  is  the 
result  of  necessity ;  for  the  illuminating  apparatus  hangs 
down  from  above  into  this  room  through  a  circular  open- 
ing in  the  ceiling,  and  makes  it  necessary  that  the  room 
should  be  kept  in  a  state  of  scrupulous  tidiness.  This  it 
has  been  found  can  only  be  permanently  obtained  by  lin- 
ing it  throughout  with  highly  polished  surfaces.  We  as- 
cend one  more  flight  of  steps,  the  tenth  and  last,  and  find 
ourselves  in  the  cupola  itself,  in  the  centre  of  which  is 
suspended  one  of  those  marvellous  lamps  which  make  the 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STOKIES.  279 

boast  and  the  glory  of  modern  science.  The  room  is 
inclosed  in  a  huge  lantern  of  glass,  and  covered  with  a 
dome  of  copper,  surmounted  by  a  lightning-rod.  The 
panes  are  extremely  thick,  and  yet  they  are  not  unfre- 
quently  too  weak  to  resist  the  wings  of  sea-fowl,  whom 
the  brilliancy  of  the  light  attracts.  Even  land -birds, 
traversing  the  sea  by  night,  are  occasionally  overtaken 
by  hard  weather  and  dashed  against  the  rigging  of  ships 
at  sea  or  the  sides  of  light-houses,  and  in  the  morning 
found  dead  on  deck  or  among  the  rocks.  It  has  been 
conjectured  that,  disliking  the  uproar  in  which  they  are 
enveloped  by  the  storm,  they  make  voluntarily  toward 
the  strong  beacon-light  in  search  of  an  asylum  ;  but  it  is 
quite  as  probable  that  amidst  the  fury  of  the  winds  they 
lose  the  power  of  directing  their  own  flight,  and  are 
dashed  accidentally  against  the  lofty  tower.  It  was  by 
flocks  of  such  distracted  birds  that  once  all  the  nine 
windows  of  a  massive  lantern  were  broken  in  the  same 
night ;  and  in  another  instance  a  wild-goose,  after  having 
broken  a  pane,  flew  in  between  the  costly  mirrors  and 
fell  into  the  flame  itself,  finding  there  a  miserable  death. 
How  numerous  these  strange  visitors  are  may  be  seen 
from  the  fact  that  one  thousand  sea-fowl  were  once  taken 
in  one  night  by  the  crew  of  a  floating  light-house,  and 
converted  by  them,  into  a  goodly  number  of  gigantic  pies. 
Fortunately  not  all  sea-birds  are  equally  dangerous,  and 
in  one  instance  at  least  they  have  actually  been  taught 
to  render  mankind  an  eminent  service.  There  is  a  superb 


280  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

light-house  on  the  South  Stack,  a  huge  rock  connected 
with  Holyhead  by  a  suspension  bridge,  and  abounding 
with  sea-fowl,  who  build  their  nests  in  countless  caves. 
These  gulls  settle  in  flocks  on  the  walls  of  the  light-house, 
and  warn  by  their  piercing  cries  the  mariners  who  might 
approach  within  a  dangerous  distance.  Formerly  the 
tower  was  provided  for  this  purpose  with  a  gun  and  a 
large  bell,  but  the  natural  guardians  were  found  to  be  so 
much  more  efficient  that  the  cannon  was  removed  to  some 
distance,  in  order  not  to  disturb  and  frighten  the  birds. 
On  the  rock  itself  the  young  gulls  are  seen  playing  with 
the  white  rabbits,  who  seem  to  look  upon  them  as  merry 
companions,  and  both  are  most  pleasant  society  for  the 
lonely  keepers,  shut  up  as  they  are  in  their  tower,  against 
which  the  winds  and  the  waves  are  continually  trying 
their  strength. 

For  in  speaking  of  the  soul  and  the  body  of  these 
light-houses  we  must  not  forget  the  poor  fellows  who 
are  shut  up  within,  and  who  often  have  not  only  their 
little  joys  and  their  long  sufferings,  but  even  their  start- 
ling adventures,  which  have  more  than  once  furnished 
the  material  for  soul-stirring  recitals. 

It  is  the  custom  of  almost  all  countries  possessed  of  a 
navy  and  large  mercantile  fleets  to  take  the  keepers 
from  the  vast  number  of  disabled  seamen.  There  are 
generally  three  of  them  in  larger  light-houses,  and  as  a 
matter  of  course  never  less  than  two,  even  in  the  small- 
est. Their  duty  is  simple,  but  exceedingly  rigorous.  It 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  281 

matters  not  whether  their  lonely  home  rise  from  the 
waters  of  the  ocean,  miles  and  miles  from  every  human 
habitation,  or  whether  it  stand  at  the  entrance  to  a 
large  harbor,  crowded  at  all  seasons  with  a  host  of  ves- 
sels ;  the  waves  may  dash  furiously  against  the  sides  of 
the  tower,  and  try  to  send  their  spray  into  the  very  lan- 
tern above,  or  they  may  never  do  more  than  gently  kiss 
the  foot  of  the  building  ;  the  sea  around  may  be  crowded 
with  ships  of  all  sizes,  from  the  vast  ocean  steamer  to  the 
lumbering  sloop,  or  the  eye  of  the  keeper  may  be  strained 
in  vain  to  perceive  even  the  low  sail  of  a  fishing  smack — 
as  soon  as  the  sun  sets  he  must  light  his  lamp,  and  as 
day  breaks  he  must  put  it  out  again.  During  the  day 
his  time  is  taken  up  in  cleaning  the  apparatus  and  mak- 
ing all  ready  for  the  hour  of  darkness.  In  the  larger 
light-houses,  where  the  number  of  keepers  is  greater, 
they  can  enjoy  each  other's  company,  have  their  houses 
and  little  gardens,  and  a  certain  amount  of  liberty,  and 
even  enjoyment.  In  the  smaller  towers,  on  the  contrary, 
where  the  position  is  such  as  to  make  the  erection  of 
buildings  impossible,  and  where  only  two  keepers,  or 
even  a  single  one  with  his  family,  are  left  to  their  own 
resources,  life  is  necessarily  sad  and  monotonous,  almost 
beyond  endurance.  In  summer  they  may  amuse  them- 
selves by  fishing ;  and  ingenuity  has  taught  them  a 
novel  method,  invented  by  some  unlucky  man,  whose 
tower  stood  so  completely  isolated  amidst  the  waters 
that  he  had  not  standing-place  enough  on  the  rocks  to 


282  WONDERS  OF  THE  BEEP. 

cast  a  line.  This  led  him  to  fasten  a  line  at  a  certain 
height,  but  just  below  the  entrance  door,  around  the 
whole  tower,  and  to  this  line  he  tied  fifty  or  more  smaller 
lines  with  baited,  hooks.  When  the  tide  rose  the  fish 
were  seen  swimming  all  around  the  tower,  they  were 
tempted  by  the  bait  and  hooked,  and  when  the  tide  fell 
there  was  seen  hanging  around  the  light-house  a  rich 
garland  of  all  kinds  of  fish.  On  the  other  hand,  the  poor 
keepers  have  their  trials  also.  At  times  the  wind  blows 
with  such  force  that  they  are  hardly  able  to  breathe,  or 
the  weather  is  so  bad  that  they  are  obliged  to  keep  the 
tower  hermetically  shut  for  days  and  days,  and  see  from 
their  darkened  cell  nothing  but  impenetrable  fog  without, 
and  the  foaming  crested  waves  like  dim  and  dismal  shad- 
ows. It  is  but  rarely  that  light-houses  become  the 
scenes  of  great  and  startling  events,  as  was  the  case  in 
the  well-known  instance  when  brave  Grace  Darling 
rescued  the  shipwrecked  passengers  of  the  steamer 
"  Forfarshire,"  and  made  her  name  a  household  word 
with  all  who  admire  heroic  devotion  and  true  Christian 
courage. 

In  spite  of  the  monotony  of  this  life,  it  is  yet  not  with- 
out its  admirers,  and  Mr.  Smeaton  tells  us  of  a  shoe- 
maker who  applied  for  a  place  as  keeper  in  the  Eddy- 
stone  Light-house,  because  he  was  tired  of  the  loneliness 
of  his  shop  !  He  found  that  he  was  less  alone  on  his 
rock  than  he  had  been  in  his  narrow  alley,  and  replied 
to  those  who  expressed  their  astonishment  at  his  choice : 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  283 

"  Every  body  has  his  taste,  and  I  have  always  liked  inde- 
pendence ! " 

Another  keeper,  at  the  same  forlorn  place,  seems  to 
have  had  by  nature  a  clear  vocation  for  his  profession  ; 
at  least  he  had  conceived  such  an  attachment  for  his 
strange  home  that  he  would  never  leave  it,  and  even 
refused  the  short  leave  of  absence  to  which  he  was  enti- 
tled every  year.  At  last  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  give 
the  outside  world  one  more  trial ;  but  he  had  no  sooner 
mingled  with  other  men  than  he  felt  quite  forlorn ;  he 
lost  his  self-control,  and  after  having  been  for  long  years 
the  most  regular  and  correct  keeper  of  a  light-house,  he 
suddenly  became  a  drunkard,  and  committed  all  kinds 
of  excesses.  He  had  to  be  carried  back  to  his  tower, 
where  he  died  after  a  few  days'  sickness  and  suffering. 
Others,  on  the  contrary,  have  been  attacked  with  in- 
sanity from  constantly  beholding  the  same  scenes  and 
receiving  for  years  the  same  impressions.  At  the  dis- 
tance of  about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from  Land's  End, 
and  on  a  group  of  granite  rocks  surrounded  on  all  sides 
by  water,  there  rises  an  old  tower  called  Longship's 
Light-house.  It  is  built  upon  a  rock  of  conic  shape, 
which  raises  its  narrow  summit  nearly  forty-five  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  In  the  winter  the  waves 
often  rise  to  such  an  enormous  height  on  this  stormy 
coast  that  they  completely  hide  the  rock  and  the  tower 
for  a  few  seconds  behind  an  impenetrable  veil  of  foam 
and  spray,  and  not  unfrequently  great  injury  is  done  to 


284:  WONDERS  OF  THE 'DEEP. 

the  building.  Thus  the  sea  once  carried  away  the  top 
of  the  lantern  bodily,  entered  into  the  tower,  extin- 
guished the  lamps,  and  could  only  be  mastered  by  great 
exertions  and  remarkable  presence  of  mind.  Another" 
circumstance  contributes  not  a  little  to  the  horror  of 
the  place.  TTnder  the  rock  on  which  the  tower  stands 
the  waters  have  washed  out  a  deep  cavern,  which 
communicates  by  a  narrow  crevice  with  the  open  sea ; 
when  the  weather  is  stormy  and  the  waves  are  high  the 
compressed  air  in  the  cavern  produces  such  a  fearful 
roaring  that  the  men  cannot  sleep,  and  a  new-comer  was 
once  so  terribly  frightened  by  the  unexpected  noise  that 
his  hair  turned  gray  in  a  single  night.  Six  years  ago 
the  people  on  shore  noticed  two  black  flags  fluttering 
from  the  flag-staff  of  the  light-house.  They  surmised  at 
once  that  some  great  calamity  must  have  occurred.  A 
boat  tried  to  go  over,  but  the  weather  was  so  bad  that 
the  brave  men  who  ventured  their  lives  in  order  to  reply 
to  the  sad  signal  of  distress,  had  to  wait  for  some  time, 
and  then  only  reached  the  rock  at  imminent  peril.  The 
scene  which  presented  itself  to  their  eyes  was  horrible. 
One  of  the  three  men  who  lived  in  the  light-house  had, 
when  his  turn  came  to  go  on  duty,  in  a  lit  of  despair 
cut  open  his  breast  with  a  large  knife.  His  companions 
had  endeavored  to  staunch  the  blood  by  stuffing  pieces  of 
tow  into  the  wound,  and  three  days  had  passed  without 
their  being  able  to  obtain  assistance.  Even  now  the  sea 
was  so  rough,  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  into  the  boat 


LIGHT-HOUSE  STORIES.  285 

so  great,  that  the  wounded  man  had  to  be  let  down  in  a 
rope  chair.  In  spite  of  every  care  and  attention  the 
poor  fellow  died  a  few  days  afterward,  and  the  jury  ren- 
dered a  verdict  ascribing  his  death  to  temporary  in- 
sanity, caused  by  his  long-continued  isolation  on  the 
rock. 

Nor  is  it  the  least  of  the  evils  connected  with  light- 
houses that  frequently  men  of  most  uncongenial  temper 
are  forced  into  unbroken  intimacy  by  their  common 
imprisonment  on  a  lonely  rock.  A  curious  traveller  who 
visited  the  famous  Eddystone  Light-house  once  asked 
one  of  the  keepers  if  he  was  not,  after  all,  quite  happy  in 
his  tower  ?  "  Oh  yes,"  replied  the  keeper,  "  we  might  be 
very  happy  here  if  we  could  only  have  a  chat  with  each 
other.  But  here  is  my  chum,  he  and  I  have  not  exchanged 
a  word  with  each  other  for  a  month !  " 

Such  are  some  of  the  marvels  connected  with  light- 
houses, and  such  some  of  the  features  of  their  inner  life. 
We  may  hereafter  endeavor  to  state  what  noble  efforts 
have  been  made  in  our  day  to  improve  these  interesting 
structures  and  to  surround  them  with  varied  auxiliaries. 
For,  to  the  honor  of  our  age  be  it  said,  the  nations  most 
interested  in  the  subject  —  England,  France,  and  the 
Union — have  all  well  understood  the  duty  resting  upon 
them  in  this  respect,  and  given  to  it  all  the  attention  it 
deserved. 

For  surely  no  expense  ought  to  be  spared,  no  amount 
of  mental  labor  counted  lost,  which  may  contribute  to 


286  WONDEBS   OF  THE   DEEP. 

the  perfection  of  light-houses,  when  we  remember  that  on 
the  coasts  of  Great  Britain  alone,  in  a  single  year,  nearly 
one  thousand  vessels  were  wrecked,  of  which  half  were 
totally  lost,  the  rest  stranded  and  seriously  damaged. 
But  the  loss  of  treasure  was  insignificant  in  comparison 
with  the  far  greater  loss  of  one  thousand  and  five  hundred 
lives  1  Surely,  then,  nothing  ought  to  be  omitted  by  a 
great  maritime  people  that  could  reduce  the  annual  loss 
of  lives,  and  thus  render  good  service  to  humanity ;  and 
leaving  out  of  consideration  for  the  present  the  admira- 
ble life-boats  of  our  day,  no  other  means  are  more  efli- 
cient  for  this  noble  purpose  than  the  erection  and  judi- 
cious management  of  well-appointed  light-houses. 


A  GKAIN"  OF  SAND. 

"As  children  gathering  pebbles  on  the  shore."— MILTOK. 

TT  is  a  common  error  to  suppose  that  only  the  lives  of 
•*•  the  great  and  the  noble  are  full  of  exciting  adven- 
tures and  remarkable  incidents.  Even  among  men  the 
lowliest  often  experience  the  strangest  fate,  and  the  event- 
ful career  of  the  English  blacksmith's  son,  who  ended 
his  days  as  a  great  commander,  and  lies  by  the  side  of  a 
Dante  in  a  Florentine  church,  is  far  more  attractive  than 
the  life  of  many  a  renowned  general  or  brilliant  states- 
man. The  same  is  true  in  nature.  The  king  of  animals 
grows  and  mates  and  dies  in  his  desert  lair,  and  the  bat- 
tles he  has  fought  with  grim  rivals,  and  the  number  of 
sheep  he  has  stolen,  or  antelopes  which  he  has  killed,  are 
all  that  can  be  told  of  the  terrible  lion.  The  little  bird, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  flew  frightened  and  fluttering 
to  the  topmost  branch  of  the  Mimosa,  when  his  deep 
roar  made  the  earth  tremble  for  miles,  may  be  carried  a 
captive  over  wide  seas  to  distant  lands,  and  pass  through 


288  WONDERS  or  THE -DEEP. 

scenes  and  trials  which  would  fill  volumes  and  excite  our 
wonder.  The  lofty  mountain  stands  for  ages  unmoved 
on  its  firm  foundation,  and  generation  after  generation 
passes  away  at  its  foot  without  noticing  a  change  in  its 
form  or  nature.  But  the  little  grain  of  sand,  which  the 
waters  of  a  mighty  river  roll  sportively  toward  the  great 
sea  has  a  history  full  of  events,  and  might  tell  us,  if  we 
could  hear  its  low  voice,  a  tale  of  strange  import.  We 
will  try  to  follow  it  from  its  birth  to  the  place  where  we 
saw  it  first — on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  Like  one  of  the 
fabled  heroes  of  old,  its  birth-place  is  wrapt  in  mysteri- 
ous doubt.  Some  say  that  Neptune  sent  it  forth  into  the 
world  and  bade  the  obedient  waves  to  give  it  form  and 
shape,  while  others  insist  that  Yulcan  fashioned  it  in  a 
fiery  furnace.  Perhaps  both  divinities  helped  to  create 
it,  for  we  find  it  in  the  shape  of  a  quartz  crystal  of  goodly 
size,  lying  snugly  ensconced  in  the  heart  of  a  sharp- 
edged  cliff  of  gneiss,  and  gneiss  is  said  to  owe  its  origin  to 
the  repeated  action  of  fire  and  water  in  rapid  succession. 
For  thousands  of  years  the  crag  has  been  standing  on 
high,  reaching  boldly  up  into  the  blue  ether,  and  crown- 
ing an  Alpine  mountain  with  its  clear  outline,  distinctly 
visible  from  afar  in  the  pure,  transparent  air  of  mountain 
regions.  Many  an  avalanche  has  come  down  from  still 
greater  heights,  and  passed  harmless  to  the  right  or  the 
left  of  the  sharp  tooth,  or,  falling  headlong  upon  the 
pointed  rock,  has  broken  its  force  there,  and  filled  the 
air  far  and  near  with  clouds  of  powdered  snow.  But  at 


A  GKAIN  OP  SAND.  289 

last  one  greater  than  all  before  came  down  from  the 
highest  of  those  inexhaustible  deserts.  For  years  the 
white,  treacherous  field  had  moved  slowly  and  imper- 
ceptibly toward  the  precipice,  until  it  was  cunningly 
poised  on  the  edge.  A  sudden  current  of  air,  the  foot- 
fall of  a  child  below,  or  the  merry  song  of  a  shepherdess 
broke  the  charm  that  held  it  suspended  on  high,  and  in 
an  instant  the  whole  mass,  but  just  now  so  silent  and 
motionless,  leaps  forth  with  the  swiftness  of  lightning  and 
wakes  the  echoes  for  miles  and  miles  with  its  terrible 
thunder.  As  if  endowed  with  a  very  rapture  of  motion, 
the  huge  white  mountain  rushes  forward,  darkens  the 
air  with  its  portentous  shadow,  and  aiming  straight  at 
the  bold  crag,  wrests  it  with  irresistible  force  from  its 
ancient  foundation.  Other  crags  and  cliffs  that  had 
once  formed  part  of  the  great  Alpine  .mountains,  and 
protected  them  against  the  terrible  enemy,  had  probably 
fallen  one  by  one  in  fruitless  struggle,  and  now  the  last 
of  old  landmarks  was  to  be  effaced. 

A  few  seconds  more  and  the  sky  is  serene  as  before, 
the  scene  as  silent  as  ever.  Now  and  then  only  a  little 
white  cloud  rises  lightly  in  the  clear  air,  as  a  small  mass 
of  snow  that  had  been  caught  by  a  tree  or  a  jutting  rock 
crumbles  to  pieces,  or  a  low,  rumbling  noise  tells  of  a 
block  of  stone  that  rolls  downward  after  having  halted 
awhile  against  a  gigantic  pine-tree  or  a  rock  by  the  way- 
side. Soon,  however,  this  also  ceases,  and  all  around  is 

once  more  still  as  the  grave. 
13 


290  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

The  old  crag  still  rises  heavenward,  and  stands  out 
black  and  bold  amid  the  desert  of  fresh  fallen  snow 
that  surrounds  it  on  all  sides.  But  its  crown  is  gone ; 
huge  masses  of  rock  have  been  broken  off  and  are  bu- 
ried far  below,  and  among  them  is  hid  the  quartz  crystal 
with  our  little  grain  of  sand. 

Loosened  and  driven  away  from  its  ancient  birthplace, 
it  lies  buried  beneath  towering  masses  of  snow  in  the 
bed  of  an  Alpine  torrent,  that. comes  raging  and  roaring 
from  the  higher  hills.  The  avalanche  has  laid  itself  inso- 
lently across  its  bed,  and  the  poor  little  rivulet  frets  and 
foams  as  it  tries  to  pursue  its  course  toward  the  valley 
beneath.  But  in  vain  it  attempts  to  scale  the  half-frozen 
mass  and  to  send  its  water  over  the  back  of  the  giant ; 
it  has  to  learn  patience,  and  slowly  begins  to  overcome 
the  oppressor,  not  by  might,  but  by  perseverance.  By 
day  and  by  night,  in  sunshine  and  under  dark  clouds,  it 
gnaws  at  the  foot  of  the  gigantic  walls  till  an  opening  is 
made,  and  it  runs  once  more  merrily  under  the  high 
arches  of  a  snow-built  bridge.  As  spring  changes  into 
summer  its  fury  subsides ;  the  foam  clears  off,  the  roar 
is  subdued,  and  the  brook  resumes  its  wonderful  rise  and 
fall,  being  full  to  overflowing  in  the  early  afternoon,  and 
low  and  silent  in  the  morning,  as  the  melting  and  the 
nightly  rest  of  the  glacier  command  it,  from  which  it 
draws  its  unceasing  supplies.  At  the  very  bottom  of  the 
rock-covered  bed  of  the  torrent  lies  the  block  of  gneiss 
that  holds  our  little  grain  of  sand,  and  busily  does  the 


A  GRAIN  or  SAOT>.  291 

water  play  around  it,  year  after  year,  washing  it  with  its 
milk-white  waters,  that  are  full  of  the  glacier  sand,  and 
continually  beating  it  with  larger  pieces  of  stone  which 
it  brings  down  from  on  high,  and  rubs  and  pushes 
against  the  patient  wanderer. 

Years  pass  by,  and  the  stone,  growing  smaller  by  de- 
grees, makes  slow  and  almost  imperceptible  progress  to- 
ward the  plains,  till  at  last  it  finds  itself  lying  at  the 
edge  of  a  rocky  precipice,  over  which  the  brook  sends  its 
waters  in  savage  joy.  They  fall  between  the  perpendicu- 
lar walls,  which  they  have  smoothed  and  polished  with 
incessant  labor,  down  into  a  dark  abyss,  from  which  they 
rise  immediately  again  as  airy  vapors,  reflecting  the  rays 
of  the  sun  in  ever-varying  colors,  and  every  now  and 
then  mocking  the  rainbow  on  high  in  all  its  gorgeous 
hues.  One  fine  day  a  warm  wind,  coming  all  the  way 
from  the  dread  desert  of  Africa,  fills  the  torrent  with 
floods  of  molten  snow  and  ice  from  the  glacier  above ;  it 
begins  to  rage  as  of  old,  and  in  fiery  tumult  it  carries 
along  with  it  all  that  fills  its  narrow  bed ;  trees  and 
stones  and  debris  of  every  kind  must  follow  its  mad 
career ;  and  as  the  swollen  waters  throw  themselves 
headlong  in  a  huge  arch  from  the  edge  into  the  boiling 
turmoil  below,  our  block  also  is  forced  to  take  the  fear- 
ful leap,  and  falling  upon  a  long-tried  rock  of  unwonted 
hardness  at  the  foot  of  the  cataract,  it  breaks  into  nu- 
merous pieces. 

The  good  results  of  the  old  policy,  Divide  et  impera, 


292  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

are  immediately  visible  ;  the  stone  is  reduced  to  the  size 
of  a  man's  hand,  and  now  rolls  readily  enough  before  the 
pressing,  pushing  waves  that  continue  to  come  tumbling 
from  on  high.  Further  and  further  it  travels  from  its 
first  home,  and  at  every  step  and  every  leap  it  knocks 
against  its  travelling  companions,  taking  from  their  sub- 
stance and  losing  more  and  more  of  its  own,  till  the  parts 
that  have  been  united  for  centuries  are  divided  forever, 
and  each  has  to  go  on  its  own  path  through  the  world. 

Our  little  grain  of  sand,  however,  is  not  yet  independ- 
ent ;  it  still  lies  concealed  in  its  diminished  rocky  home, 
and  has  silently  and  patiently  to  await  the  hours  when 
it  also  shall  have  to  fight  the  battle  of  life  by  itself. 

All  of  a  sudden,  however,  it  is  exposed  to  a  new  and 
terrible  danger.  After  its  long  quiet  rest  in  its  airy 
home,  and  the  slow  and  measured  progress  it  has  been 
making  of  late,  as  the  waters  of  the  brook  roll  it  leisurely 
along,  comes  unexpectedly  a  time  of  fearful  excitement. 
On  one  side  of  the  brook  lies  a  huge  block  of  granite,  al- 
most level  on  the  top,  and  so  high  that  the  waters  play 
Over  it  only  when  the  river  is  at  its  fullest.  The  stones 
and  pebbles  which  they  carry  have  gradually  worn  a 
slight  indentation  on  the  surface,  and  now  every  stone  is 
forced  to  turn  round  and  round  in  the  little  hole,  until 
the  water  subsides  once  more.  The  dance  looks  merry 
enough  to  the  beholder,  but  it  is  full  of  sadness  for  the 
performer,  who  is  ground  down  day  by  day  by  the  inces- 
sant friction,  and  must  perish,  being  reduced  to  powder, 


A  GEAIN  OF  SAND.  293 

unless  a  sudden  rise  or  a  lucky  accident  releases  him  from 
the  bondage  and  sends  him  back  into  the  bed  of  the  tor- 
rent. 

Our  block  also  has  been  forced  to  dance  madly  around, 
until  it  has  lost  more  than  half  of  its  size ;  but  at  last  the 
brook  is  reduced,  the  heat  of  the  sun  dries  up  the  water 
in  the  little  pan,  and  the  pebble  lies  weary  and  exhausted 
amid  the  dust  and  dead  insects  which  line  the  bottom. 
But  ere  long  the  torrent  resumes  its  mad  career ;  the  rock 
is  covered  with  water  once  more,  and  the  furious  dance 
recommences.  Thus  the  poor  little  grain  of  sand  alter- 
nates between  perfect  peace  and  restless  excitement, 
wearing  away  steadily  all  the  time,  till  at  last  a  fellow- 
sufferer  comes,  and  pushing  it  over  the  edge,  takes  its 
place  in  the  strange  ball-room.. 

The  grain,  still  hid  in  its  cradle,  now  continues  its  slow 
journey.  But  a  furious  rain  sets  in  for  days  and  nights ; 
all  the  mountain  streams  swell  and  rise,  till  their  bed  is 
too  narrow,  and  the  brook,  filled  to  overflowing,  spreads 
its  dimmed  waters  over  a  vast  meadow.  The  pebble, 
born  amid  ice  and  snow,  and  restlessly  rolled  along  among 
rocks,  now  for  the  first  time  is  surrounded  by  bright 
flowers  and  waving  grasses,  but  it  is  still  pushed  along 
by  the  restless  waters  of  its  torrent,  and  crushed  beneath 
larger  stones  and  boulders,  while  the  brook  has  been 
borne  on  high,  when  it  aped  the  great  river,  and  now 
slowly  rolls  in  the  icy  lava-like  mass  of  debris  over  the 
blooming  Alpine  meadow. 


294:  WONDEBS    OF  THE   BEEP. 

Behold  the  little  grain  of  sand  now  on  its  new  stage 
of  life,  shrunk  and  shriveled  without,  with  corners 
abrased  and  edges  dulled  down,  but  still  dwelling  safely 
within  its  old  stone  prison.  The  increasing  pressure  from 
above,  as  the  burden,  borne  lightly  by  the  swollen  waters, 
becomes  too  heavy  for  their  diminished  strength,  and 
gently  sinks  to  the  ground,  continues  to  break  and  crush 
the  gneiss,  till  at  last  there  remains  but  a  stone  of  the 
size  of  a  hazelnut,  which  serves  as  a  dark,  dismal  dwell- 
ing for  the  tiny  grain. 

It  has  not  long  to  wait  for  the  day  of  liberation.  A 
new  tempest  pours  overwhelming  floods  of  rain  into  the 
same  deep  channel,  from  which  years  ago  the  mountain 
torrent  rolled  its  waters  over  the  fair  meadow.  They 
rack  and  rend  the  stony  bed  to  its  foundation,  and  our 
luckless  adventurer  is  tossed  and  torn  about  in  all  direc- 
tions. A  heavy  block  comes  thundering  down  from  on 
high,  and  falls  with  loud  clatter  upon  the  diminutive 
piece  of  gneiss ;  the  little  plates  of  mica  give  way,  the 
outer  shell  falls  to  pieces,  and  for  the  first  time  in  its  life 
the  grain  of  sand  lies  open  to  the  air  and  beholds  the 
bright  light  of  heaven.  It  is  washed  by  cool  waters,  and 
when  the  sun  once  more  breaks  forth  from  behind  the 
dark  clouds,  its  rays  are  reflected  in  playful  glitter  from 
the  sides  of  the  tiny  grain. 

As  a  person  leaving  a  public  assembly  is  borne  along 
for  a  time  by  the  crowd,  and  at  last  escapes  from  the  rush 
and  the  press  to  pursue  his  own  way  at  leisure,  so  the 


A  GRAIN  OF  SAOT).  295 

"... 

grain  of  sand  also  at  first  was  carried  onward  in  a  new, 
narrow  channel,  which  the  swollen  brook  had  furrowed 
out  across  a  meadow,  staying  now  in  this  bend  and  now 
in  that  for  a  while.  Finally,  however,  the  little  branch 
falls  into  the  main  channel  once  more,  and  the  still  im- 
petuous waters  carry  all  its  contents  with  a  sudden  splash 
and  splutter  into  a  small  Alpine  lake.  There  the  little 
grain  of  sand  sinks  at  once  to  the  bottom,  where  it  meets 
a  numerous  company  of  other  unfortunate  grains,  and 
seems  to  be  doomed  to  remain  there  forever,  for  what 
power  is  likely  to  take  the  helpless  pebble  -from  the  silent, 
motionless  deep  ?  The  lake  has  no  outlet  through  which 
the  additions  made  by  avalanches,  rain,  and  snow  could 
be  carried  off;  and  yet  the  marvel  is,  what  becomes  of 
all  the  vast  masses  of  water  by  which  its  little  basin  is 
filled  to  overflowing?  For  nine  or  ten  months  in  the 
year  the  lake  is  frozen,  and  can,  therefore,  lose  nothing 
by  evaporation  ;  and  no  river  or  outlet  ever  finds  its  way 
out  of  the  deep,  circular  loch  in  which  it  is  confined. 

It  rids  itself,  nevertheless,  of  all  it  cannot  hold,  though 
the  eye  of  man  cannot  watch  its  proceedings.  For  the 
pressure  of  the  heavy  mass  of  water  which  it  contains  in 
a  narrow  basin  is  powerful  enough  to  force  some  of  it, 
drop  by  drop,  through  fissures,  cracks,  and  crevices  in 
the  rocky  bottom,  and  these  minute  rivulets  carry  natu- 
rally with  them  all  that  can  pass  through  the  narrow 
passages,  which  are  their  only  outlet.  Eye  of  man,  we 
said,  cannot  watch  this  process,  and  yet  it  is  not  unseen, 


296  WONDEKS   OF  THE  'DEEP. 

for  a  slow,  scarcely  perceptible  motion  on  the  surface,  by 
which  wide  circles  are  continually  formed,  proves  to  the 
experienced  observer,  that  the  whole  lake  is  a  gigantic 
funnel,  from  which  water  is  continually  though  slowly 
escaping. 

One  of  these  minute  trickling  currents  sucks  up  our 
little  grain  of  sand,  and  so  bears  it  downward  through 
the  dark,  hidden  channels  of  the  rock.  How  sad  seems 
its  fate,  to  be  torn  from  its  lofty  home  high  in  the  free 
air,  and  now  buried  far  under  ground  in  eternal  night ! 
Enemies,  moreover,  surround  it  on  all  sides  ;  now  larger 
stones  come  and  try  their  strength  against  the  little  pebble, 
and  now  subterranean  waters  meet  and  attack  it  with 
the  acids  they  contain.  But  its  nature  is  strong  ;  quartz 
is  hard  to  overcome,  and,  though  it  may  lose  here  a  little 
of  its  rough  outline,  and  there  a  particle  of  its  substance, 
the  grain  still  preserves  its  identity  and  continues  its 
strange  pilgrimage. 

Far  down  in  a  low  valley,  on  the  nethermost  terrace 
of  the  Alps,  there  lies  a  meadow  rich  in  beautiful  flowers 
and  fragrant  grasses.  On  the  shady  sides  beneath  noble 
beech-trees  and  maples  dwells  a  whole  host  of  graceful 
ferns  and  tiny  mosses,  while  out  on  the  sunny  plain  the 
green  carpet  is  thick  and  deep,  and  shines  in  the  bright 
light  with  velvety  richness.  In  the  centre  of  the  sunny 
slope,  right  amidst  flowers  and  ferns,  a  powerful  spring 
bubbles  forth.  Its  crystal-pure  waters  flow  gently  down- 
ward over  a  bed  strewn  with  white  pebbles,  and  never 


A  GRAIN  OF  SAND.  297 

fails  in  the  saddest  drought  of  summer  or  the  bitterest 
frosts  of  winter.  Here  is  one  of  the  secret  outlets  of  the 
upper  lake.  A  few  hundred  feet  further  on,  the  waters 
are  gathered  in  a  little  basin,  as  if  they  wished  to  rest 
after  their  painful  creeping  through  dark  crevices,  and 
gather  new  strength  for  the  weary  journey  that  is 
finally  to  carry  them  to  the  great  ocean. 

Very  different,  however,  is  the  miniature  basin  here 
below  from  the  little  lake  on  the  heights,  from  which  it 
receives  its  supplies.  Here  animals  of  all  kinds  creep 
and  crawl  busily  on  the  bottom,  and  a  wreath  of  reeds 
and  aquatic  plants  surrounds  its  low,  marshy  banks. 
Only  on  one  side  there  is  a  break  in  the  fringe ;  it  is  the 
place  where  the  waters  of  the  spring  come  forth  to  con- 
tinue, often  a  short  rest,  their  long  journey  through  the 
valley. 

Once  more  the  little  grain  of  sand  greets  here  the 
light  of  day,  welcomed  by  a  thousand  fair  flowers  upon 
its  return  to  life.  The  spring  has  brought  it  forth  from 
its  wanderings  in  the  dark;  it  lies  snugly  ensconced 
among  sheltering  grasses  by  the  side  of  the  opening,  and 
the  rays  of  the  sun  lighting  up  its  transparent  edges 
make  it  flash  for  a  moment  like  an  eye  beaming  with  joy. 

Soon  it  becomes  a  toy  of  the  merry  waters,  now  being 
tossed  on  high  in  playful  sport,  and  now  left  unnoticed 
by  the  side  of  the  channel,  till  at  last  it  drops  wearied 
and  worn  into  the  little  basin  below.  In  the  upper  lake, 

large  as  it  was,  there  was  no  fish  whose  swift  and  easy 
13* 


298  WONDERS   OF  THE  DEEP. 

movements  ever  stirred  the  quiet  waters  and  threatened 
to  dislodge  the  tiny  grain ;  there  was  no  bird  there  to 
seek  its  prey  by  the  bank,  and,  in  the  search,  to  tread 
upon  it  with  its  broad  web-foot.  But  here  below,  in  the 
diminutive  basin,  dangers  at  once  surround  it  on  all 
sides,  and  before  it  is  well  at  home  in  its  new  resting- 
place,  it  is  carried  once  more  to  distant  lands.  A  beau- 
tiful duck  comes  with  loud  whirring  flight ;  it  plunges 
headlong  into  the  water  to  dip  up  with  its  broad  bill  a 
whole  mouthful  of  worms,  and  then,  rising  to  the  surface 
again,  it  enjoys  for  a  moment  the  play  of  the  sunlight  on 
its  bright  green  neck,  and  lets  the  water-beads  glide 
harmless  from  its  brilliant  plumage.  Now  it  flies  off, 
and  with  it  the  grain  of  sand  goes  to  a  new  home.  For, 
as  the  duck  gobbled  up  a  little  leech,  the  animal  had 
just  sought  safety  by  fastening  itself  with  its  suckers  to 
our  tiny  wanderer,  and  thus  the  stone  was  swallowed 
with  the  food.  The  bird,  far  from  complaining  of  the  un- 
welcome visitor,  enjoys  it  hugely,  for  it  needs  the  sand 
for  digestion,  and  the  little  grain  finds  there  neither  a 
grave  nor  a  resting-place,  but  is  called  upon  to  work, 
and  to  work  hard  in  its  strange  aerial  ship.  It  has 
become  a  diminutive  millstone,  and  in  company  with 
others  who  have  preceded  him  in  the  strange  mill,  it  has 
to  go  round  and  round  in  its  dark  cell,  a  lifeless  but 
useful  help  to  organic  life. 

How  the  grain  of  sand  now  wandered  with  the  duck 
from  lake  to  lake,  to-day  through  long,  lonely  regions  in 


A  GEAIN  OF  SAND.  299 

the  pure  air,  to-morrow  through  dark  rushes  alid  dismal 
swamps  !  After  a  few  weeks  it  is  left  by  the  bird  on  the 
banks  of  a  distant  lake,  where  busy  laborers  are  forming 
bricks  from  the  red  clay  of  the  soil.  All  of  a  sudden 
the  little  grain  of  sand  finds  itself  seized  by  human 
hands ;  it  is  worked  and  kneaded,  and  finally  finds 
itself  lying  incorporated  in  a  hollow  tile,  on  a  drying- 
frame.  The  warm  air  has  soon  dried  up  all  the  water 
that  was  in  the  clay,  and  the  tiles  and  bricks  are  placed 
in  long  rows  in  the  kiln.  Here  new  horrors  await  the 
unlucky  grain  ;  fearful  flames  break  forth  all  around,  and 
hungry  tongues  find  their  way  into  every  crack  and  open- 
ing, till  the  fiery  breath  enters  deep  into  the  core  of  the 
bricks.  They  blush  with  indignation,  and  are  drawn  out  to 
be  carted  away  to  a  new  house  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine. 

A  few  days  more  and  the  grain  of  sand  hangs  once 
more  high  in  the  pure  air,  on  the  surface  of  a  tile  on  the 
roof.  The  waters  have  reduced  it  in  size  till  the  care- 
less eye  would  hardly  observe  it ;  the  fire  has  cracked  it, 
and  a  ray  of  the  evening  sun  plays  merrily  on  the  small, 
sparkling  eye.  Once  njore  banished  and  bound,  it 
remains  there  at  rest  for  many  a  year ;  little  birds  sing 
by  its  side  in  bright  summer  days,  and  in  winter  the 
snow  covers  it  up  with  sheltering  care. 

But  it  is  not  at  rest  forever  yet.  The  hidden  powers 
of  the  air  come  to  their  silent  work,  and  gnaw  and  nib- 
ble at  the  hard  clay.  They  call  in  the  aid  of  wind  and 
weather,  of  rain  and  snow,  of  light  and  heat  and  frost, 


300  WONDERS  OF  THE  'DEEP. 

and  ere  long  the  hard  tile  is  changed  into  fertile  soil.  In 
visible  germs  come  on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  and  minute 
mosses  begin  to  cover  it  with  their  green  velvet.  They 
grow  to  tiny  bolsters,  and  one  of  them  .covers  up  the  grain 
of  sand,  condemning  it  once  more  to  .dismal  darkness. 

Thus  it  cannot  see  the  black  cloud  that  rises  in  stern 
threatening  from  the  east,  to  summon  it  to  a  new  pilgrim- 
age. For  a  moment  man  and  beast  are  filled  with 
strange  fear,  and  then  the  tempest  breaks ;  a  fierce  storm 
of  hail-stones  falls  far  and  near,  and  in  the  next  minute 
the  tile  with  its  grain  of  sand  lies  broken  on  the  ground 
by  the  side  of  a  hundred  companions. 

The  day  after  a  cart  comes  and  the  useless  fragments 
are  carried  to  the  banks  of  the  river,  where  familiar 
voices  greet  the  grain  of  sand  and  tell  it  many  a  tale  of 
the  world  above,  where  the  waters  were  born,  and  where 
its  own  childhood  was  spent.  "  Come  along,"  they  whis- 
per and  shout ;  "  come  with  us ;  we'll  carry  you  to  the 
great  ocean." 

And  again  a  fearful  tempest  breaks  down  upon  the 
glaciers  in  the  high  Alps,  and  again  fills  to  overflowing 
the  countless  rivulets  that  form  the  great  Rhine.  The 
rain  comes  in  floods,  the  glaciers  slide  downwards,  and 
the  masses  of  snow  on  the  lower  peaks  melt  under  the 
hot  breath  of  the  African  wind.  Down  into  the  valleys 
they  all  rush,  now  singly  and  now  united,  till  the  bed  of 
the  great  river  cannot  hold  the  vast  abundance,  and  the 
waters  rise  high  above  the  banks  on  both  sides.  "With 


A  GKAIN  OF  SAND.  301 

irresistible  force  they  carry  away  whatever  is  not  strong 
enough  to  cling  to  the  soil,  and  thus  the  broken  tile  also 
is  seized  by  the  enraged  giant  and  borne  on  to  the  falls 
that  are  not  far  distant.  A  second  time  the  grain  of 
sand  must  follow  a  master,  who  holds  it  in  his  strong 
grasp,  in  a  fearful  leap  over  a  precipice,  and  down  in  the 
abyss  the  poor  wanderer  is  again  whirled  round  and 
round  in  the  seething  maelstrom,  till,  sadly  shorn  of  its 
proportions,  it  is  at  last  pushed  forward,  a  tiny  grain  in 
truth,  into  the  wide  plains  where  the  waters  are  quiet  and 
flow  on  in  peace. 

The  adventures  of  the  little  wanderer  are  over  now. 
For  the  rest  of  its  life  the  grain  of  sand  is  to  be  gently 
pushed  along — who  can  tell  how  much  or  how  little  every 
year  ? — by  the  waters  of  the  mighty  river.  It  has  been 
freed  from  its  bondage  to  the  fire-burnt  tile,  and  lies  now, 
the  high-born  son  of  a  lofty  Alpine  peak,  on  the  dark 
bottom  of  the  river.  A  freshet  may  now  and  then  throw 
it  for  a  time  on  the  sunny  bank;  and  accident  may  bury 
it  for  years  under  some  great  rock,  but,  after  all,  it  moves 
on  steadily,  though  slowly,  on  its  heaven-appointed  way 
to  the  sea,  and  whatever  may  befall  it,  whether  it  be 
ground  to  dust  or  dissolved  by  acids,  so  much  is  certain 
— it  will  never  be  lost !  For  there  is  nothing  lost  in  the 
great  household  of  nature ;  and  the  glory  of  the  Most 
High  is  not  more  strikingly  displayed  in  the  rising  and 
setting  of  the  great  orb  on  high  than  in  the  varied  fate 
and  the  unseen  adventures  of  a  little  grain  of  sand. 


XL 
MEECUET. 

"  Swift,  subtle  Mercury."— KOGER  BACON. 

OD  said  to  man,  whom  he  had  made  in  his  own  im- 
age :  "  Let  him  have  dominion  over  all  the  earth ! " 
and  man,  from  the  day  of  creation  to  our  own,  has 
labored  hard  to  make  himself  master  of  the  world.  For 
like  all  other  gifts  from  on  high,  that  power  also  has  to 
be  earned  in  the  sweat  of  his  face,  and  the  ground  that 
was  cursed  for  Adam's  sake  yields  no  longer  willing  obedi- 
ence to  its  sinful  master.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  man 
so  poor  but  he  can  control  all  that  he  sees,  no  race  so 
brutal  but  it  makes  all  Nature  serve  and  work  for  its 
benefit.  Even  on  the  confines  of  the  habitable  world, 
where  the  blessed  light  of  day  shines  but  for  a  short  time, 
and  ice  and  snow  sit  a  barrier  to  all  life  and  enjoyment, 
even  there  man  still  succeeds  in  ruling  the  elements,  and 
employing  the  scanty  supplies  that  the  earth  can  yet 
furnish.  The  low-creeping  moss  and  tiny  sweet  berries 
preserve  his  health,  while  the  grossest  food  gives  him 
support  and  warmth  ;  the  monster  of  the  seas  gives  him 


MERCURY.  303 

x 

bones  for  his  arrow-tips  and  timber  for  his  fragile  boat ; 
the  sea-lion  furnishes  oil  for  his  lamp,  and  the  very  ocean 
supplies  him  with  a  house  which  he  rears  by  the  aid  of 
huge  masses  of  ice. 

Among  all  the  vassals,  however,  the  goodly  crowd  of 
metals  are  his  most  useful  servants,  his  best  friends. 
Buried  deep  down  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  hiding 
themselves  in  darkest  corners  and  remotest  chambers, 
they  seemed  to  have  fled  from  his  all-absorbing  rule. 
As  if  anxious  to  avoid  the  slavery  that  awaited  them  in 
his  service,  they  had  run  into  tiny  veins,  split  into  thin 
leaves,  scattered  into  minute  grains,  to  escape  his  atten- 
tion :  here  they  covered  their  bright  splendor  with  un- 
sightly clay;  there  they  mixed  with  worthless  earths, 
and  often  they  allowed  the  merry  waters  of  mountain- 
streams  to  roll  over  them  and  make  them  invisible.  All 
in  vain  !  For  man  seized  upon  the  last  of  the  fugitives, 
whose  bright  faces  he  caught  here  and  there  on  the  sur- 
face; he  followed  them  on  lonely  paths  through  the 
mountains ;  he  pursued  them  with  spade  and  pickaxe  into 
the  very  bowels  of  the  earth ;  he  sank  shafts  and  filled 
them  with  monstrous  machines,  that  forced  them  to  come 
forth  from  their  hidden  recesses,  and  seized  them  where- 
ever  his  knowledge  revealed  to  him  their  retreat.  Then 
he  carried  them  triumphantly  up  to  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  beat  and  stamped,  ground  and  crushed  them, 
threw  them  into  furious  fire,  until  they  yielded  to  his 
stern  will,  and  assumed  the  form  which  it  pleased  him 


304:  WONDEKS    OF   THE    t>EEP. 

to  give  them ;  he  chilled  them,  and  hardened  them,  and 
at  last  took  them  into  his  service,  forcing  them  to  do  his 
bidding,  and  to  aid  him  in  becoming  truly  the  master  of 
all  the  earth.  For  man  had  dominion  given  him  over  the 
inert  materials  as  well  as  over  the  living  creatures  of  the 
earth.  Hence  the  true  poetry  of  mechanics,  attractive  in 
all  its  marvellous  doings,  and  more  charming  in  its  daily 
results  than  the  wildest  dreams  of  creative  fancy.  Let 
those  who  will,  see  nothing  but  masses  of  clanking  iron 
and  huge  incessant  fires,  nothing  but  tall  chimneys  and 
clouds  of  black  smoke ;  to  the  imaginative,  even  smoke 
and  the  vapor  we  call  steam  becomes  an  embodied  genie, 
who  raises  man  to  the  clouds  and  at  whose  feet  the  earth 
opens  at  command ;  and  those  who  yield  themselves  to 
the  spell  are  led  through  subterranean  ways  to  the  secret 
chambers  of  the  treasures  of  Nature.  Or,  led  by  the 
same  obedient  slave,  they  find  themselves  in  gardens 
more  enchanting  than  any  Aladdin  ever  saw — gardens  of 
vast  extent  and  varied  beauty,  covered  with  transparent 
crystal,  containing  all  beauteous  things  that  Nature 
produces  or  the  immortal  mind  of  man  creates,  with  the 
flowers  of  all  zones  and  the  fruits  of  every  land,  with  liv- 
ing marvels  all  around,  and  fountains  throwing  out  liquid 
gems,  with  a  night  as  dazzling  as  the  days  are  brilliant. 
And  this  is  the  romance  of  reality. 

For  man  has  dominion  over  all  the  earth  for  some  good 
purpose ;  he  is  the  steward  only,  and,  far  from  indulging 
in  wanton  destruction,  he  makes  his  vassals  his  faithful 


MEKCUBY.  305 

servants,  his  attached  friends.  Even  the  humblest  of 
Nature's  children  becomes  useful,  when  he  names  it,  and 
by  his  heaven-born  instinct  assigns  it  its  duty.  The  air 
has  to  fill  his  bellows,  and  the  fire  to  work  like  a  slave  by 
night  and  by  day  ;  the  water  must  fertilize  his  gardens, 
and  the  stones  afford  him  dry  paths  ;  the  falcon  hunts 
for  him,  the  fir-tree  carries  him  across  the  ocean,  the  very 
worm  serves  him  as  bait,  and  the  lowly  herb  restores  him 
to  health. 

But  of  all  his  servants,  the  metals,  those  kings  of  the 
old  alchemists,  which  were  so  nearly  related  to  the  great 
heavenly  bodies  that  they  bore  their  names,  have  ever 
been  his  most  useful  vassals,  his  best  friends.  As  he 
learnt  to  know  them  and  to  employ  them,  they  changed 
his  whole  manner  of  life,  and  he  counts  ^his  own  history 
from  the  age  of  bronze  and  of  iron.  He  subjected  them, 
one  by  one,  to  the  manifold  evolutions  of  the  great  work- 
shop in  his  brain,  and  gave  to  each  a  life  of  its  own. 

Thus  he  saw  at  a  glance  the  stubborn  strength  and  the 
enduring  power  of  iron,  and  called  it  up  from  its  dark 
hiding-places  to  become  his  workman,  to  subject  the 
whole  world  to  him  by  its  strength,  and  to  embellish  it 
by  its  numberless  uses.  He  summoned  it  to  check  and 
control  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  iron  changed  into  a 
supple,  cunningly-woven  chain  to  fetter  the  wild  bull ; 
it  became  a  bit  and  a  spur  to  master  the  proud,  prancing 
horse,  a  sharp-pointed  staff  to  strike  even  the  huge  ele- 
phant with  terror,  a  solid  cage  to  hold  the  lion,  the  king 


306  WONDERS  or  THE  DEEP. 

of  the  beasts,  and  a  slender  hook  to  catch  the  fish  in  his 
subtle  element.  Man  ordered  it  to  conquer  the  earth  it- 
self, and  as  plough  it  drew  cruel  furrow  in  its  bosom  to 
bear  abundant  fruit  for  his  support ;  it  became  an  axe  to 
fell  the  loftiest  trees,  a  saw  to  divide  the  gigantic  trunks  ; 
and  then  it  assumed  a  thousand  varied  forms  to  build 
him  his  house,  to  hold  it  together  against  wind  and 
weather,  and  to  protect  it  with  lock  and  latch.  The  very 
Proteus  of  the  metals,  it  took  a  new  shape,  and  con- 
quered even  the  hard  rock,  smoothed  it  and  shaped  it 
into  beauteous  forms,  or  piled  it  up  higher  and  higher  in 
majestic  temples  and  lofty  cathedrals ;  or  it  took  the  tall- 
est of  pines  on  high  mountain-chains  and  bound  them 
with  clamp  and  clasp  to  form  a  vessel,  and  held  it  as  an- 
chor to  the  bottom  of  the  mighty  deep.  Soon  there  was 
no  work  done  in  kitchen  or  parlor,  in  workshop  or  lab- 
oratory, in  which  iron  did  not  show  itself  an  ever-ready, 
ever-handy  assistant,  yielding  with  willing  obedience  to 
man's  will,  and  obediently  assuming  every  shape  he  de- 
sired, 

Man  rejoiced  in  the  skilful  laborer,  and  devised  new 
and  harder  tasks ;  he  lent  the  whole  power  of  his  mind  to 
make  new  inventions,  which  iron  had  to  help  him  in 
carrying  out,  and,  ever  hand  in  hand,  the  master  and  the 
servant  went  onward  on  their  path  of  improvement. 
The  more  docile  the  metal  showed  itself,  the  more  rap- 
idly man's  progress  made  itself  felt  on  the  earth ;  and 
with  the  labor  he  performed  by  the  aid  of  iron,  his  own 


MERCURY.  307 

spiritual  power  increased  by  degrees.  Whatever  had 
appeared  impossible  before,  iron  had  to  achieve.  Long 
had  the  great  streams  of  the  earth  impeded  the  commerce 
of  men ;  for  they  defied  the  structures  of  fragile  wood, 
and  of  massive  stone,  when  high  floods  gave  them  un- 
usual power,  or  huge  drifting  blocks  of  ice  made  play- 
things of  pier  and  bridge.  At  last,  here  also  iron  came 
to  the  aid  of  man,  and  once  more  obeying  his  ingenious 
command,  it  stretched  out  into  long  rods  and  slender 
beams,  chained  them  one  to  the  other,  and  lo  and  behold  ! 
the  gossamer  chain-bridge  hung  high  and  safe  above  the 
furious  waters,  and  man  could  defy  now,  on  his  part,  the 
power  of  the  conquered  element.  And  when  he  had 
thus  overcome  the  last  obstacle  that  impeded  his  free 
control  of  space,  he  became  impatient  of  the  swiftness  of 
the  horse  even,  and  bending  his  mind  to  devise  some 
more  rapid  mode  of  overcoming  space,  he  invented  a 
new  service  for  his  trusty  servant.  Iron  was  tortured 
and  twisted  anew,  until  it  assumed  the  form  of  colossal 
wheels,  huge  levers,  caldron,  and  pipes — and  the  engine 
was  ready  to  bring  with  its  own  amazing  uses  the  power 
of  steam  into  the  service  of  man.  The  new  servant  be- 
came the  most  powerful  and  the  most  delicate  of  instru- 
ments ;  here  moving  machinery  of  gigantic  proportions, 
and  there  printing  the  tiniest  characters  on  silk  and  on  cot- 
ton. It  carried  man  with  amazing  rapidity  from  land  to 
land,  from  continent  to  continent ;  and  as  the  cunning 
web  of  the  spider  holds  the  strongest  of  her  enemies 


308  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

helpless  in  its  meshes,  so  the  iron  net  of  railroads  and 
steamers  held  the  very  earth  captive  at  the  will  of  man. 

Even  greater  things,  however,  he  demanded  of  the 
faithful  metal,  which  he  had  discovered  possessed  a  mar- 
vellous gift  appearing  in  many  ways  not  inferior  even  to 
the  instinct  of  living  creatures.  You  must  show  me  the 
way,  he  told  the  willing  servant,  across  the  pathless 
ocean!  and  iron  changed  into  a  small  needle,  and  as 
compass  and  sextant  it  became  his  unfailing  guide  over 
the  broad  ocean  and  around  the  whole  globe.  But  when 
man  rose  against  man,  and  fierce  war  raged  through  the 
land,  even  then  he  bethought  himself  of  his  faithful  friend, 
and  iron  came  to  his  aid,  now  as  a  sharp  sword,  and  now 
as  a  gun  or  a  cannon.  Thus,  in  peace  and  in  war.  on 
land  and  at  sea,  the  useful  metal  is  by  his  side,  ready  to 
do  his  bidding,  to  assume  any  shape,  and  to  serve  him 
in  small  matters  and  in  greatest.  In  like  manner  man 
has  taken  them  all,  from  the  precious  gold  to  the  worth- 
less lead,  and  made  them  his  servants.  But  there  is  one 
among  them,  more  highly  gifted  than  all  the  others,  of 
fairest  form,  of  strangest  shape,  and  of  rarest  usefulness. 

This  is  the  metal  which  takes  its  name  from  the 
winged  messenger  of  the  gods,  and  is  known  among  us 
as  mercury,  though  its  bright  face  and  wondrous  quick- 
ness make  it  perhaps  more  generally  familiar  as  quick- 
silver. These  features  were  so  striking  and  so  exclu- 
sively peculiar  to  the  ever-changing  metal,  that  already 
the  ancients  bestowed  upon  it  like  admiring  names.  To 


MEECUKT.  309 

the  Greeks  it  was  liquid  silver ;  to  the  Romans,  with  a 
poetry  rare  among  the  stern,  matter-of-fact  people  even, 
living  silver ;  the  latter  name,  however,  seems  in  classic 
writers  to  have  been  confined  to  the  pure  mercury  found 
in  its  brilliant  beauty,  whilst  the  former  was  reserved  for 
the  metal  when  artificially  produced.  For  the  ancients 
were  already  fully  acquainted  with  the  "  Changeful 
Damsel "  among  the  stern  metals,  as  an  old  alchemist 
quaintly  called  it  on  account  of  its  slippery,  coquettish 
nature,  now  alluring  by  its  "lovely  beauty,  now  deriding 
by  its  swift  escape.  Among  its  many  forms,  which  it 
assumes,  is  one  called  cinnabar,  of  a  resplendent  red, 
which  was  well  known  more  than  four  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  and  found  abundantly  in  Spain,  where,  by 
one  of  those  strange  combinations  produced  by  the  uni- 
versal rule  of  the  Roman,  Athenian  philosophers  acted  as 
officials  in  imperial  mines.  That  able-  but  disorderly 
writer,  Vitruvius,  confounds  this  cinnabar — on  account 
of  its  red  color,  in  all  probability — with  the  more  famil- 
iar minium,  an  entirely  different  product,  used  to  mark 
certain  passages  in  manuscripts  and  almanacs,  and  thus 
become  the  ancestor  of  our  miniature.  He  states,  how- 
ever, correctly  the  picturesque  manner  in  which  it  pre- 
sented itself  to  the  eye  of  the  astonished  miner;  for  he 
Says,  "  When  they  dig  minium,  and  iron  tools  wound 
the  rock,  big  drops  of  living  silver  flow  from  the  place." 
Pliny,  in  his  more  prosy  manner,  simply  states  that  there 
— in  the  mines  of  Spain — there  is  "  a  rock  which  continu- 


310  WONDEUS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

ally  sweats  mercury,  and  which  the  Greeks  call  cinna- 
bar ;"  so  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  identity 
of  this  curious  metal  in  Roman  mines  and  our  quicksilver. 
The  question  has,  however,  been  raised  more  than  once, 
because  of  its  being  so  frequently  mistaken  for  minium, 
and  even  called  by  that  name.  Pliny  himself  designates 
it  thus  wrongly  in  his  interesting  description  of  the 
locality,  from  which,  in  his  day,  the  most  valuable  cinna- 
bar was  sent  to  the  capital.  "  Rome,"  he  says,  "  obtains 
its  minium  almost  exclusively  from  Spain.  The  most 
famous  comes  from  the  region  of  Sisapo  in  Boetica.  The 
mines  belong  to  the  Roman  republic,  and  no  other  prop- 
erty is  so  jealously  guarded  as  this.  The  cinnabar  is  not 
allowed  to  be  prepared  on  the  spot ;  but  it  is  stamped  as 
brute  ore  and  sent  to  Rome,  about  ten  thousand  pounds 
a-year.  In  Rome  it  is  washed  and  prepared,  and  a  spe- 
cial law  fixes  the  maximum  price  at  which  it  may  be  sold 
by  the  merchants."  Now  Pliny's  Boetica  is  the  Andalu- 
sia of  our  day,  with  a  part  of  Granada ;  and  in  this  same 
district  are  still  the  famous  mines  of  Almaden,  the  one 
great  support  of  the  Spanish  crown,  without  which  Spain 
would  have  long  since  been  utterly  bankrupt. 

The  subject  was  one  of  no  slight  importance  to  the 
Romans,  for  cinnabar  was  used  largely  for  the  purpose  of 
painting.  Its  bright  red  adorned  the  statues  of  the  gods 
as  they  were  carried  in  solemn  procession  through  the 
wards  of  the  capital ;  and  even  the  great  generals,  who 
entered  the  city  in  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  a 


MERCURY.  311 

full  triumph,  did  not  disdain  its  use.  Sir  Humphrey  Davy 
recognized  its  use  even  in  some  paintings  of  disentombed 
Pompeii,  and  probably  it  served  still  higher  purposes  in 
the  mysteries  of  unholy  worship.  Mercury,  as  such,  was 
also  well  known  already  as  useful  for  purposes  of  gild- 
ing, although  the  modern  art  of  using  it  in  the  shape  of 
an  amalgam  was  not  familiar  to  the  ancients.  They  con- 
tented themselves  with  putting  the  mercury  in  a  layer 
on  vessels  and  ornaments  of  silver  and  copper,  and  then 
pressing  thick  plates  of  gold  upon  it,  cementing  the  whole 
together.  Whilst  our  gilding,  therefore,  wears  off  even 
by  mere  daily  use,  and  when  not  exposed  to  the  baneful 
effects  of  wind  and  weather,  we  are  told  by  the  great  art- 
critic,  Winkelmann,  that  antique  gildings  look  now  as 
fresh  and  as  beautiful  as  if  they  had  just  come  from  the 

hands  of  the  gilder.     Hence  they  had  also  learned  al- 

i 
ready  to  burn  their    magnificent   dresses,  embroidered 

heavily  with  pure  gold,  and,  by  the  aid  of  quicksilver,  to 
rescue  the  gold  from  the  ashes. 

How  far  it  was  used,  even  then,  for  medicinal  purposes, 
we  can  hardly  decide  ;  for  while  some  authors  mention  it 
as  an  element  in  certain  salves  which  were  oddly  enough 
employed  at  festive  meals,  Pliny  represents  it  correctly 
as  a  poison,  and  objects  to  its  use  in  medicine,  even  for 
external  application,  as  fraught  with  too  much  danger. 
The  confusion  in  the  mind  of  these  authors,  when  they 
come  to  speak  of  the  mysterious  metal,  is  often  amusing : 
Pliny  thinks  it  so  poisonous  that  no  vessel  can  hold  it, 


312  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

aware  as  he  was,  probably,  that  it  cannot  be  kept  in 
metal  vessels,  because  it  would  at  once  form  an  amalgam 
with  the  metal;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Dioscorides 
states  that  it  was  generally  stored  up  in  glass  vessels,  but 
that  he  has  seen  it  also  in  boxes  of  lead,  tin,  and  silver, 
which  is  simply  impossible.  Its  fluidity,  however,  seems 
to  have  puzzled  the  ancients  sorely ;  and  the  amazement 
of  Vitruvius  is  comic  in  the  extreme,  when  he  describes 
how  a  stone,  weighing  a  hundred  pounds,  put  on  a  vessel 
filled  with  living  silver,  floated  on  it,  without  making  an 
impression  on  the  surface  !  This,  also,  is  of  course  errone- 
ous, for  the  stone  does  make  an  indentation,  more  or  less 
deep  according  to  its  specific  gravity,  as  mercury  is  only 
about  thirteen  times  heavier  than  water;  but  it  is  cu- 
rious that  the  same  experiment,  which  so  astonished  the 
learned  Roman,  is  in  our  day  repeated  daily  for  the  visi- 
tors of  the  mines  of  Idria,  whe're  huge  stones  are  placed 
in  the  enormous  iron  kettles  filled  with  newly-obtained 
mercury.  It  is  strange  that  we  find  no  trace  in  ancient 
writers  of  the  preparation  of  artificial  cinnabar,  highly 
valued  as  this  costly  material  was  by  the  men  of  those 
days ;  but  there  is  only  one  allusion  found  to  what  is 
called  making  mercury  solid  by  the  aid  of  sulphur,  and 
that  occurs  unfortunately  in  the  pages  of  the  false  De- 
mocritus. 

This  secret,  like  many  others  connected  with  our 
strange  metal,  was  known  only  to  the  great  race  who 
kept  all  the  valuable  knowledge  of  the  world  in  the  days 


MERCURY.  313 

of  universal  war,  and  through  the  well-named  Dark  Ages 
— the  Arabs,  who  also  were  well  acquainted  with  the 
deadliest  form  that  mercury  ever  assumes,  the  so-called 
corrosive  sublimate,  and  described  it  as  a  violent  and 
acrid  poison. 

The  alchemists,  those  noble  searchers  after  truth,  who 
paved  with  their  errors  and  bitter  disappointments  the 
roads  on  which  Modern  Chemistry  steps  safely  to  the 
great  goal  of  Truth,  surrounded  mercury  with  a  poetic 
crown  of  glory.  In  their  labors  to  wring  from  Nature 
the  secret  of  the  philosopher's  stone,  and  of  changing 
all  viler  metals  into  noble  gold ;  in  their  efforts  to  realize 
the  existence  of  an  elixir  of  life ;  in  all  their  mad  pursuits, 
which  blend  the  sublime  with  the  ridiculous  as  no  other 
work  of  man  has  ever  done,  and  contain,  amid  much  that 
is  absurd,  numerous  traits  of  touching  self-denial  and 
unsurpassed  perseverance — in  all  of  these,  mercury  was 
the  one  great  master  among  metals,  without  whose  aid 
nothing  could  be  obtained.  How  these  poor,  ignorant, 
but  earnest  and  devoted  workers  worshipped  the  mysteri- 
ous metal,  and  tried,  by  all  the  means  known  to  their  bud- 
ding science,  to  force  it  into  their  service  !  Its  change- 
ableness  was  their  despair.  Not  in  vain  had  they  named 
it  mercury,  when  they  expressed  the  sympathetic  relation 
which  they  fancied  to  exist  between  the  seven  known 
metals  and  the  seven  planets ;  whilst  gold  remained  to 
them  the  image  of  the  bright  sun,  and  silver  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  pale  moon,  quicksilver  bore  the  likeness 


314  WONDEES   OP  THE   DEEP. 

of  the  messenger  of  the  gods  with  his  winged  foot  and 
mobile  mind.  So  they  fasted  and  prayed,  and  chastised 
themselves  into  a  proper  frame  of  mind,  to  become  mas- 
ters of  the  volatile  servant ;  and  then  with  exalted  hopes 
and  a  glance  to  the  Master  of  all  things,  they  heated  and 
cooled,  digested  and  distilled,  analyzed  and  amalga- 
mated the  unlucky  metal,  in  order  to  find  the  animated 
mercury,  as  they  called  the  future  substance,  which  was 
to  make  the  philosopher's  stone,  and  the  more  mystic 
philosopher's  mercury,  from  which  they  expected  still 
greater  but  unknown  wonders.  They  believed  even  in 
predestination  as  required  for  the  happy  issue  of  their 
work.  Alas !  they  were  predestined  only  to  work  out 
all  the  errors  of  human  knowledge,  and  to  clear  the  way 
for  their  successors  in  ages  long  to  come.  Their  success 
was  limited  to  chasing  the  metal  from  one  shape  to 
the  other ;  now  changing  from  living  silver  into  the  red 
lion,  then  into  cinnabar,  the  dragon's  blood,  and  back  to 
the  milk  of  the  black  cow.  Even  Geber,  the  acknowl- 
edged master  of  many  a  science,  became,  as  the  unfortu- 
nate author  of  the  first  book  on  chemistry  ever  written, 
a  byword  among  men.  Dr.  Johnson  tell  us  how,  on 
account  of  his  uncouth  language  in  this  work,  his  name 
has  been  transmuted  into  Gibberish  for  the  use  of  indig- 
nant English  tongues.  To  him  mercury  was  the  dearest 
among  the  rare  and  aristocratic  substances  with  which 
he  loved  to  deal,  and,  with  sulphur  and  arsenic,  one  of 
his  three  elemental  chemicals,  of  which  all  metals  on 


MEECTJBY.  315 

earth  were  made.  He  dwelt  with  intense  pleasure  upon 
the  fact  that  even  gold,  the  sovereign  of  them  all,  with 
its  superior  weight,  its  passing  beauty,  and  its  triumph 
over  fire,  was  dissolved  by  mercury,  and  swallowed  up 
by  its  bright  globules  as  easily  as  sugar  in  water. 

The  alchemists  failed  in  their  end,  but  they  have 
taught  us  much  about  quicksilver.  For  we  would  err 
sadly,  if  we  were  to  look  upon  them  as  lost  in  error 
altogether.  If  Wisdom  in  their  days  wore  the  fool's 
cap,  there  were  wise  things  said  and  done  even  in  her 
wildest  vagaries;  her  secretary,  as  he  has  been  called, 
Common  Sense,  made  notes  of  the  good,  and  all  was  put 
down  in  a  kind  of  short-hand,  strange  and  odd  to  our 
ear,  but  intelligible  to  the  initiated.  The  vocabulary 
was  made  awful  and  hideous  on  purpose,  to  keep  off  the 
profane ;  but  fair  Science  came  out  at  last  unscathed, 
for  Truth  cannot  be  destroyed  nor  concealed ;  and  thus 
it  appeared,  that  philosophy,  like  the  toad,  ugly  and 
venomous  at  first  sight,  bore  "  a  precious  jewel  in  its 
head."  It  was  not  for  such  triumphs,  it  is  true,  that  the 
great  Dominican,  Thomas  Aquinas,  was  enrolled  among 
the  saints  of  the  Church ;  but  it  is  a  fair  question  among 
men  of  science,  whether  this  canonized  alchemist  achieved 
any  greater  triumph  on  earth  than  his  discovery  of  the 
word  amalgam,  and  its  meaning.  Now  we  all  know 
that  mercury  bears  such  marvellously  strong  affinity  to 
certain  metals  like  tin,  lead,  and  silver,  that  it  opens 
them  up,  so  to  say,  and  forms  with  them  a  homogeneous 


316  WONDERS  OP  THE  DEEP. 

liquid  or  paste ;  but  Aquinas  was  the  first  to  ascertain 
and  state  this  fact  in  a  manner  which  made  it  useful  to 
science,  and  to  call  the  compound,  that  resulted  from  the 
fixture,  by  the  name  which  it  still  bears. 

Quicksilver  is  not  a  common  metal,  but  found  only  in 
a  few  portions  of  our  globe,  and  then  in  various  forms. 
Here,  it  surprises  the  miner  by  suddenly  leaping  forth  in 
bright,  silvery  globules,  and  running  fast  to  hide  in 
dark  corners,  now  scattering  into  almost  invisible  atoms, 
now  running  together  and  forming  large,  lustrous  balls. 
Then,  it  appears  as  cinnabar  in  fibrous  or  ill-shapen 
masses,  sometimes  crystallized  and  sometimes  hid  under 
a  dark,  unseemly  covering,  but  occasionally  shining  forth 
in  brilliant  red,  with  the  splendor  of  the  diamond.  Then 
again  it  conceals  itself  carefully  under  the  form  of  some 
other  metal,  as  native  amalgam,  or,  in  rare  cases,  is  found 
as  ready-made  medicine  in  the  form  of  calomel. 

China  and  Japan  produce  some  quicksilver,  for  they 
send  to  the  markets  of  the  world  the  best  cinnabar  which 
there  appears  ;  but  to  this  day  little  is  known  about  these 
mines  and  some  others  in  Thibet.  The  so-called  virgin 
cinnabar,  which  is  mainly  imported  from  Asia,  is  made 
from  the  rare  specimens  of  native  cinnabar  found  there 
and  ground  fine ;  it  is  by  far  the  most  superb  in  color,  and 
the  most  highly  prized  by  artists  and  manufacturers  ;  the 
larger  portion  is  probably  made  artificially  in  China  as 
in  Europe,  and  for  that  purpose  large  quantities  of  mer- 
cury are  actually  carried  back  to  the  Celestial  Empire. 


MERCURY.  317 

Mercury  is  found  in  the  Venetian  Alps,  where  new 
mines  have  quite  recently  been  opened  with  a  promise 
of  great  gain  ;  in  Bavaria  and  Bohemia,  and  a  few  other 
localities,  which  have,  however,  been  abandoned  of  late 
on  account  of  their  small  yield,  with  the  exception  of 
here  and  there  a  small  mine.  There  is  a  curious  theory 
about  this  decline  of  formerly  productive  mines  enter- 
tained by  older  authors.  They  state  that  mobile  quick- 
silver cannot  rest,  even  when  rockbound,  but  ceaselessly 
works  its  way  upward,  and  from  great  depths  penetrates, 
by  the  process  of  sublimation,  into  the  veins  and  crevices 
of  overlying  formations.  This  theory  is  supported  by  the 
fact,  that  in  almost  all  the  formerly  rich  mines,  mercury 
was  actually  found  close  to  the  surface,  often  immedi- 
ately under  the  turf;  whilst  no  ore  has  of  late  been  dis- 
covered at  a  lower  depth. 

On  the  whole,  there  are  only  four  important  points  on 
our  globe  where  mercury  is  mined  to  advantage :  in  Peru, 
in  Austria,  in  Spain,  and  in  California.  Of  these,  the 
smallest  production  is  that  of  Huancavelica,  in  Peru, 
where  cinnabar  appears  impregnated  in  layers  of  sand- 
stone and  limestone.  It  is  curious  how  the  vanity  of  man 
here,  as  in  Spain,  first  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  precious 
metal.  .  For  as  the  great  Triumphator  Camillus  painted 
himself  red  with  minium,  so  the  Indians  of  Peru  used  to 
adorn  themselves  on  festive  occasions  with  the  same 
color,  obtained  from  the  same  metal.  The  first  regular 
mining  dates  only  back  as  far  as  the  year  1566,  when  the 


318  WONDERS  OP  THE  DEEP. 

Spanish  Government  caused  the  province  to  be  examined, 
and  mercury  was  found  in  numerous  places.  When  Peru 
became  independent,  the  mine  of  Huancavelica  became, 
of  course,  national  property,  and  was  farmed  out  by  the 
Government.  It  is  the  highest  mine  on  earth,  being  fif- 
teen hundred  feet  above  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe ;  but  it 
produced  a  rich  harvest,  until  the  madness  of  an  official 
nearly  destroyed  it  forever.  The  development  of  the 
silver  mines  of  the  republic,  and  the  wasteful  manner  of 
using  mercury  in  them,  had  led  to  an  increased  demand 
for  the  metal.  This  induced  an  unlucky  superintendent, 
goaded  on  by  his  superiors,  and  anxious  to  distinguish 
himself,  perhaps  also  to  add  to  his  riches,  to  order  the 
massive  pillars  of  valuable  ore  to  be  pulled  down,  which 
had  been  left  standing  in  order  to  support  the  enormous 
weight  of  the  upper  surface.  The  haste  to  be  rich  had 
its  unvarying  effect :  the  rock  came  down,  the  mines  were 
destroyed,  and  owner  and  agent  alike  were  severely  pun- 
ished for  their  insane  cupidity. 

Far  away  in  the  heart  of  Europe  and  the  centre  of  the 
Julian  Alps,  there  lies  a  valley  of  wondrous  beauty ; 
huge  walls  of  bare  rock  rise  to  vast  height  all  around, 
and  shut  off  the  secluded  plain  below  from  the  rest  of 
the  world.  The  upper  parts  of  the  mountains  are  again 
crowned  with  grand  old  pine-forests ;  below  the  rocks, 
spreads  a  beautiful  carpet  of  green  meadows  and  mag- 
nificent woods,  while  here  and  there  tall  masses  of  rock 
jut  out  into  the  valley,  looking  defiantly  down  upon  the 


MEKCURY.  319 

peaceful  scene  below,  and  crowned  with  chapel  and 
church.  A  poor  peasant — so  goes  the  legend — once  came 
here  to  select  some  timber  for  the  wooden-ware  he  was 
making,  and  placed  a  few  tubs  into  a  well  to  be  seasoned 
over  night.  What  was  his  surprise,  when  he  poured  the 
water  off  next  morning,  to  find  at  the  bottom  a  glittering 
mass  of  silvery  metal !  Soon  skilful  miners  and  cunning 
goldsmiths  came  from  Italy,  and  the  place  became  known ; 
but  only  to  be  made  the  scene  of  strife  and  bloodshed. 
Now  the  Venetians  would  fall  with  an  armed  force  upon 
the  German  miners,  and  now  the  great  Maximilian  would 
send  troops  to  drive  out  and  destroy  the  covetous  invad- 
ers. For  centuries  the  mines  have  produced  most  abun- 
dantly, but  of  late  they  have  become  less  profitable,  and 
the  Austrian  Government,  always  wanting  money,  is 
anxious  to  sell  them.  The  ore  is  here  roasted  in  exten- 
sive works,  and  the  smoke,  which  contains  the  volatile 
metal,  is  carried  into  enormous  iron  retorts.  The  cast- 
iron  pipes  are  forty  feet  long  and  three  feet  wide,  sus- 
pended in  the  air,  and  resting  only  upon  a  few  slight  sup- 
ports. As  the  constant  smoke  keeps  them  too  warm  for 
condensation,  a  little  aqueduct,  following  above,  trickles 
continually  cooling  showers  upon  them  ;  once  a  year  only 
the  fires  are  allowed  to  go  out,  to  clean  and  repair  the 
whole  apparatus.  The  soot  in  the  cylinders,  a  loose, 
black,  fatty  substance,  contains  the  mercury  in  countless 
tiny  globules,  some  of  which  run  out  in  beautiful  silvery 
whiteness;  others  have  to  be  whipped  from  their  un- 


320  WONDEES    OF   THE   DEEP. 

sightly  retreat ;  the  soot  is  beaten  with  small  brooms,  and 
soon  the  silver  snakes  are  seen  to  glide  out  of  the  dark 
mass,  as  if  anxious  to  escape  in  all  directions.  Then  the 
glittering  mass  is  gathered  in  sheepskins,  tanned  with 
alum,  or  in  cast-iron  bottles  of  enormous  size,  to  be  sent 
all  over  the  world. 

Sad,  however,  is  the  penalty  which  the  vicious  metal 
exacts  from  those  who  thus  force  it  to  the  light  of  day. 
Quicksilver  evaporates  at  a  temperature  lower  than  that 
which  we  maintain  in  our  houses,  and  its  vapors  are 
poisonous.  Hence  all  miners  pay  with  their  health  ;  they 
become  feeble  and  nervous,  their  whole  system  becomes 
deranged,  perpetual  trembling  seizes  their  limbs,  and 
they  die  at  an  early  age.  When  murcury  escapes  by 
chance,  it  murders  like  an  assassin  in  the  dark.  Thus  it 
happened  in  a  vessel  which  in  1820  came  to  the  Spanish 
coast  with  some  mercury  in  its  hold.  By  an  accident 
the  quicksilver  ran  out  of  a  few  rotten  bags,  and  found 
its  way  into  the  hold  j  soon  every  piece  of  metal  in  the 
ship  was  covered  with  a  mercurial  coating,,  and  every 
man  on  board  was  salivated  violently,  and  sick  unto 
death.  The  same  tragedy  occurred  in  Idria  on  a  larger 
scale.  In  the  year  1803  foul  air  set  the  mines  on  fire,  and 
the  mercurial  vapors  developed  on  that  occasion  poisoned 
thirteen  hundred  workmen,  the  larger  part  of  whom  never 
recovered.  The  water,  by  which  the  fire  had  been 
quenched,  was  pumped  into  the  river  Idria,  and  was  still 
so  laden  with  deadly  fumes  that  all  the  fish  were  killed, 


MEECUEY.  321 

except  the  eels,  who,  being  proverbially  used  to  being 
roasted  alive,  defied  even  the  poisonous  metal. 

On  a  similar  occasion,  in  Spain,  a  pious  Franciscan 
monk  seized  a  crucifix,  and  bidding  the  frightened  work- 
men to  follow  him  into  the  burning  mine,  went  in  to  put 
out  the  fire  :  neither  he  nor  any  of  his  devoted  men  were 
ever  seen  again.  This  occurred  in  the  famous  mines  of 
Almaden,  which  lie  amid  the  Black  Mountains  of  La 
Mancha,  so  dear  to  all  lovers  of  Cervantes  as  the  scene 
of  the  inimitable  exploits  of  Don  Quixote.  It  has  its 
name — the  mine — from  its  first  masters,  the  Arabs,  who, 
in  the  course  of  time,  fell  heirs  to  the  Roman  State  prop- 
erty, and  worked  it  with  brilliant  success.  One  of  their 
Caliphs  had  in  his  gardens  at  Cordova  a  gigantic  shell 
of  porphyry,  filled  with  glittering  quicksilver,  which  was 
evermore  flowing  out  and  in.  It  stood  in  a  pavilion,  the 
sides  of  which  were  lined  with  ebony  and  ivory  of  such 
exquisite  polish  that,  when  the  rays  of  the  sun  fell  upon 
them,  their  splendor  dazzled  and  blinded  the  eye.  But 
when  great  guests  were  to  be  shown  the  marvels  of  the 
palace,  an  Arabic  manuscript  says,  the  Caliph  ordered 
all  the  doors  around  to  be  opened ;  the  full  sunlight  then 
shone  upon  the  ever-flowing  mass  of  silver,  and  the  re- 
flection fell  on  the  eye  of  the  beholder  like  living  flashes 
of  lightning,  and  the  pavilion  seemed  to  toss  like  a  ves- 
sel on  the  stormy  waves. 

The  indolent  Spaniards  have  rarely  attempted  to  work 

their  magnificent  mines  themselves,  but  farmed  them 
14> 

^ 

or  XHB 


322  WCKNDEKS    OP  THE   DEEP. 

out  to  bankers  and  companies,  mostly  of  foreign  race. 
Among  these  was  the  great  house  of  Fugger,  those 
grandest  of  merchant-princes  in  the  small  town  of  Augs- 
burg, one  of  whom  could  haughtily  warm  the  Emperor 
Charles  Y.  by  a  fire  made  of  his  own  obligations  and 
evidences  of  debt  to  the  great  banker  !  They  held  the 
mines  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  and  brought  large 
numbers  of  German  workmen  there,  whose  industry  and 
skill  soon  raised  the  production  immensely.  In  1835 
they  were  pawned,  in  like  manner,  to  the  Rothschilds ; 
but  at  present  they  are  worked  with  great  energy  and 
by  means  of  the  best  scientific  aid,  at  the  expense  of  the 
Government,  which  derives  by  far  the  largest  portion  of 
its  income  from  this  locality.  The  town  itself,  with  its 
clean,  straight  streets,  and  tidy,  well-kept  houses,  pre- 
sents a  very  different  aspect  from  the  other  miserable 
villages  of  La  Mancha,  and  the  surrounding  country ; 
though  sterile  and  stern  like  that  of  most  mining  districts, 
is  not  devoid  of  beautiful  mountain  scenery  and  extended 
views.  Even  the  entrance  to  the  mines  differs  altogether 
from  that  of  similar  works  elsewhere.  From  the  level 
valley  a  long  tunnel-like  shaft  leads  to  the  very  heart  of 
the  mine ;  it  is  built  of  massive  hewn  rock,  wide  enough 
for  carts  with  two  horses  abreast,  and  has  granite  side- 
walks ;  at  the  end  you  come  to  steps  and  stairs,  which 
lead  to  the  lower  parts,  where  you  find  yourself  imme- 
diately beneath  the  town  of  Almaden.  The  working 
was  formerly  done  by  criminals  condemned  to  hard  labor 


MERCURY.  323 

for  life.  From  their  prison,  which  still  stands  there,  a 
relic  of  former  barbarism,  they  were  led  in  the  morning 
by  a  subterranean  passage  to  the  mines,  and  back  again 
at  night.  Thus  they  literally  never  saw  the  light  of 
day  ;  after  a  few  years  their  health  failed,  the  poisonous 
vapors  nestled  in  their  system,  and  they  died,  hailing 
the  King  of  Terrors  as  a  welcome  friend.  This  cruelty 
drove  them  at  last  to  despair :  in  the  beginning  of  the 
last  century  they  set  the  wood-work,  which  then  lined 
the  mines  throughout,  on  fire,  and  thus  made  them  inac- 
cessible for  years.  Now,  none  but  skilled  laborers  are 
employed,  who  work  only  six  hours  a  day,  and  are  well 
paid.  Yet  they  also  soon  succumb,  for  the  air  is  so 
deadly  that  no  animals  live  down  there,  not  even  spiders ; 
and  the  rats,  who  alone  were  able  to  resist  the  vapors, 
have  disappeared  since  the  last  fire. 

The  scene  below  is  beautiful.  Where  the  work  is 
going  on,  vast  masses  of  cinnabar,  dark-red  and  spark- 
ling with  unearthly  splendor,  hang  on  the  walls ;  here 
and  there  crystals  of  marvellous  beauty  shine  from 
between  the  dark  rocks,  and  in  many  places  cavities  and 
crevices  are  filled  with  the  pure  metal ;  so  that,  under 
the  miner's  tool,  as  the  rock  breaks  asunder,  silvery 
drops  as  large  as  a  pigeon's  egg  suddenly  roll  forth,  and, 
leaping  on  the  ground,  fall  into  a  shower  of  resplendent 
beauty.  The  ore  is  subsequently  distilled  by  means  of 
enormous  fires,  for  which  prodigal  Nature  furnishes 
bountifully  the  material ;  for  all  the  mountains  around, 


324.  WONDEKS  or  THE  DEEP. 

for  miles  and  miles,  are  covered  with  a  cistus,  an  ever- 
green shrub,  which,  at  the  proper  season,  covers  the 
country  with  a  carpet  of  white,  and  whose  resinous 
branches  burn  with  a  heat  equal  to  that  of  the  best  coal. 

The  richest  of  all  regions,  however,  is  the  youngest — 
California.  Here,  where  Nature  seems  to  have  scattered 
with  unlimited  liberality  her  greatest  treasures  broadcast 
over  the  land,  vast  stores  of  mercury  are  found,  the  most 
important,  if  not  the  most  valuable  of  the  mineral  pro- 
ducts of  this  wonderful  country.  To  the  four  mines, 
which  already  produced  more  quicksilver  than  all  other 
countries  together,  there  have  quite  recently  been  added 
two  new  ones,  in  Chapman  Valley  and  Pope  Valley, 
which  give  promise  of  a  vast  increase  of  the  wealth  of 
California,  and  have  completely  changed  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  Formerly,  mercury  was  exported  from 
Europe  ;  now,  America  is  not  only  independent,  but  actu- 
ally sends  it  back  to  the  Old  World,  and  enables  men 
there,  as  well  as  in  Peru,  to  work  even  the  poorest  of 
silver  ores.  Thus  silver,  which  had  remained  behind 
gold,  since  the  great  discoveries  in  California,  Australia, 
and  Asiatic  Russia,  can  now  be  obtained  again  in  larger 
quantities,  and,  thanks  to  the  new  supplies  from  the  Pa- 
cificj  the  balance  is  likely  to  be  restored. 

If  we  ask,  finally,  what  use  man  makes  of  the  wonder- 
ful metal,  so  beautiful  in  appearance,  so  deadly  in  its 
effects,  and  so  highly  valued  for  its  services,  we  find  it 
nowhere  employed  for  itself,  like  the  more  precious  met- 


MEECUEY.  325 

als,  but  an  invaluable  aid  to  man  in  various  ways.  Its 
very  dangers  are  converted  into  healing  powers,  and,  as 
calomel,  it  is  used  with  surpassing  effect,  either  directly, 
mixed  as  in  bitter  irony  with  tender  roseleaves,  or  in 
numerous  combinations  with  other  substances.  As  cor- 
rosive sublimate,  it  enters  into  countless  salves  of  more 
doubtful  usefulness ;  and  as  mercury  itself,  it  is  infused 
into  anatomical  preparations,  to  preserve  them  for  pur- 
poses of  study.  No  chemical  laboratory  can,  of  course, 
dispense  with  its  valuable  services,  were  it  only  in  the 
form  of  a  bath,  to  catch  gases.  The  manufacturer 
employs  it  largely  for  dyeing  and  similar  purposes,  and 
the  man  of  science  learns  to  value  it  as  a  friend  above 
all  others  in  the  thermometer  and  barometer.  He 
wanted  to  measure  that  imponderable  and  yet  univer- 
sally present  substance,  heat ;  and  quicksilver  willingly 
helped  him,  because  of  its  exquisite  susceptibility,  and 
the  readiness  of  expansion  which  it  alone  could  show,  as 
the  only  fluid-metal  on  earth.  Man  wanted  to  weigh  the 
very  air  he  breathes,  and  quicksilver  again  offered  to  do 
it,  as  no  other  fluid  is  so  heavy,  and  a  column  of  twenty- 
eight  inches  of  mercury  suffices  to  show  what  water 
could  have  done  only  in  a  tube  of  thirty-two  feet.  By 
the  aid  of  these  instruments,  man  can  now  measure  the 
warmth  of  his  room  as  well  as  that  of  whole  zones ;  he 
can  adapt  the  temperature  of  his  bath  to  his  wants,  and 
of  vast  buildings  to  purposes  of  brewing  and  distilling. 
The  mercury  aids  him  in  measuring  the  height  of  moun- 


326  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

tains,  and  warns  him  of  approaching  storms  ;  it  counsels 
him  in  his  work  in  the  fields,  and  on  his  voyages  over 
the  oceans  ;  it  aids  the  engineer  in  his  levelling,  and  the 
philosopher  in  his  subtlest  researches. 

In  other  cases  it  is  mixed  with  sulphur  to  make  artifi- 
cial cinnabar,  and  immense  quantities  of  mercury  are  an- 
nually consumed  for  this  purpose.  It  is  ground  to  ex- 
treme fineness,  and  then  comes  into  the  market  as  ver- 
million,  which  is  highly  valued  in  the  arts  as  a  pigment 
for  the  purity  and  permanency  of  its  tint.  But  by  far 
the  largest  proportion  of  all  the  mercury  found  on  our 
globe  is  sent  by  man  in  search  of  the  precious  metals, 
which  force  cannot  bring  forth  from  their  hidden  recesses, 
and  which  now,  with  the  aid  of  the  alluring  powers  of 
quicksilver,  are  tempted  to  the  light  by  its  gentle  per- 
suasive power.  For  it  possesses  a  truly  wondrous  power 
to  compel  gold  and  silver  to  leave  their  natural  form, 
and  to  combine  with  itself;  and  hence  the  poorest  ores, 
which  by  no  process  of  beating  and  heating  can  be  made 
to  surrender  the  treasures  they  hold,  are  covered  with 
mercury,  and  behold,  the  insidious  friend  winds  its  way 
into  every  chink  and  crevice,  and  licks  up  the  precious 
metal  wherever  it  can  be  found.  Then  the  whole  mass 
is  exposed  to  a  fierce  heat,  the  volatile  mercury  is  forced 
to  surrender  its  prey ;  it  rises  in  vapor  and  smoke,  and 
leaves  the  glittering  gold  and  silver  in  almost  perfect  pu- 
rity behind.  The  same  process  of  amalgamation  leads  to 
gilding,  for  here  also  a  mixture  of  gold  and  mercury  is 


MERCURY.  327 

put  on  silver,  copper,  or  brass,  and  the  metal  is  then 
heated  ;  the  mercury  again  escapes,  and  the  gold  remains 
firmly  fastened  to  the  inferior  metal,  which  is  said  to  be 
"  fire-gilt."  The  process  is  obnoxious  on  account  of  the 
injurious  vapors  which  it  devolves,  and  largely  superseded 
by  the  galvanic  method,  which  is  safer  and  cheaper  ;  but 
the  gilding  wears  off  sooner.  Not  less  beautiful  is  the 
method  by  which  mercury  serves  to  make  mirrors.  Tin- 
foil is  spread  on  a  hot  slate-plate,  the  quicksilver  poured 
on  it,  and  then  the  plate  of  glass  pressed  carefully  under 
the  surface  of  the  mercury,  so  as  to  avoid  the  particles 
of  dust  which  always  settle  there.  The  glass  is  then 
heavily  weighted,  the  quicksilver  runs  off  in  glittering 
rills,  and  the  mirror  is  perfect.  But  here  also  the  danger 
has  driven  man's  ingenuity  to  rid  himself  of  the  beauti- 
ful vassal,  with  the  fair  face  and  the  fatal  poison  behind 
it,  and  nowadays  mirrors  are  simply  silvered. 


xn. 
THE   EAETH   IN   TEOUBLE. 

**  Thou  sure  and  finest  earth." — SHAKESPKAKB. 

HHHERE  is  no  mistake  about  it ;  our  mother  Earth  is  in 
serious  trouble,  and  her  wisest  children  are  at  a  loss 
how  to  account  for  her  sudden  restlessness.  There  are 
all  the  signs  of  feverish  excitement — great  heat,  strange 
utterances,  and  violent  convulsions.  A  summer  so  hot 
as  to  become  unusually  destructive  to  human  life  has 
been  followed  by  an  unnaturally  mild  winter  all  through 
the  temperate  zone  of  the  globe,  and  even  the  instincts 
of  the  brute  creation  seem  to  have  been  at  fault  for  once. 
Terrific  upheavings  have  terrified  man,  now  breaking 
forth  through  the  craters  of  active  volcanoes,  and  now 
raising  huge  portions  of  firm  land  by  fearful  earthquakes. 
Is  it  a  wonder  that  when  our  mother  Earth  is  so  evidently 
in  trouble,  her  children  also  should  be  sorely  troubled, 
and  thoughtful  minds  should  look  once  more  for  the 
speedy  coming  of  the  end  of  all  things  ?  When  the 
Apostles  themselves  expected  to  witness  the  coming  of 


THE  EAKTH  m  TROUBLE.  329 

the  Lord,  and  a  Luther  could  firmly  believe  in  the  near 
approach  of  the  Last  Judgment,  we  may  well  bear  pa- 
tiently with  credulous  Millerites,  sitting  in  their  white 
robes  high  up  on  broad  branching  trees  to  ascend  the 
more  promptly  to  heaven,  and  with  all  the  sorrowful 
minds  who  in  our  day  yearn,  with  the  whole  groaning 
creation,  for  speedy  redemption ! 

Nor  can  we  withhold  our  sympathy  from  those  who 
describe,  with  feelings  of  indelible  awe,  what  they  suf- 
fered at  the  time  of  their  first  experience  of  an  earth- 
quake. While  a  bright  sky  and  brilliant  sunshine  are 
flooding  the  exuberant  beauty  of  a  tropical  landscape 
with  gorgeous  lights,  and  all  Nature  seems  to  enjoy  in 
perfect  peace  the  luxury  of  happy  existence,  they  sud- 
denly feel  rather  than  hear  a  low,  rumbling  noise,  which 
seems  to  rise  from  the  very  lowest  depths  of  the  earth. 
And  all  living  beings,  men  as  well  as  animals,  are  of  a 
sudden  filled  with  a  strange  anticipation  of  evil  coming, 
vague,  but  sickening,  and  unconquerable  by  any  effort  of 
will.  Before  the  mind  can  well  judge  of  the  strange  and 
unwonted  sensation,  there  comes  long,  subterranean 
thundering,  clap  upon  clap,  rolling  nearer  and  nearer, 
and  at  each  successive  shock  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
seem  alike  to  shudder  at  the  fearful  approach  of  an  un- 
known power.  Everything  is  shaken  to  the  foundation ; 
glasses  and  crockery-ware  sound  as  if  frolicking  spirits 
were  playing  with  them ;  bells  are  set  ringing  by  invisi- 
ble hands,  doors  open  by  themselves,  and  no  one  enters, 


330  WOKDEES    OF  THE   DEEP. 

the  houses  begin  to  groan  and  to  crack  in  all  their  joints, 
and  lean,  like  drunken  men,  first  to  one,  and  then  to  the 
other  side.  Tall  steeples  sway  giddily  to  and  fro,  and 
lofty  arches  in  cathedrals  and  churches  press  out  the  key- 
stone and  come  crashing  down,  burying  thousands  of  ter- 
rified men,  who  had  come  to  the  sacred  building  to  in- 
voke help  from  on  high,  when  all  upon  earth  had  left 
them  helpless.  All  who  can  escape  rush  forth  from  be- 
neath treacherous  roofs,  but  out  there  it  feels  as  if  even 
"  heaven's  vault  should  crack ; "  the  danger  is  not  over, 
for  the  very  soil  beneath  their  feet  swells  and  sinks  like 
the  waves  of  the  sea,  huge  chasms  open  here  and  there, 
and  dark  abysses  swallow  old  and  young,  rich  and  poor, 
without  distinction  and  without  mercy. 

At  last  the  soil  begins  to  subside  into  the  wonted  quiet, 
and  at  the  same  moment,  a  tall,  conical  mountain — some- 
times in  sight  of  the  panic-struck  multitude,  and  some- 
times at  a  distance  of  hundreds  of  miles — opens  a  wide, 
gaping  mouth  near  the  summit,  and  a  power,  which  hu- 
man ingenuity  has  as  yet  found  no  standard  to  measure, 
sends  forth  a  magnificent  bunch  of  bright  flames,  mingled 
in  strange  anomaly  with  streaming  vapors,  rocks  ground 
to  atoms  till  they  resemble  ashes,  and  vast  masses  of  a 
glowing  substance,  which  are  flung,  jet  after  jet,  till  they 
seem  to  reach  the  welkin.  And,  high  up  in  the  air,  the 
fiery  bouquet,  grandly  beautiful  in  spite  of  its  terrific  na- 
ture, spreads  out  into  an  immense  canopy,  an  ocean  of 
clouds  dark  above,  but  shining  in  incomparable  splendor 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  331 

below,  where  the  fire  from  the  crater  illumines  it  in  rich- 
est glory,  while  flashes  of  lightning  play  unceasingly  to 
and  fro,  and  the  half  molten  rocks  rain  down  upon  the 
earth,  bursting  and  breaking  like  masses  of  brittle  dusky 
glass.  At  the  same  time  a  torrent  of  ashes  falls  like  a 
burning  rain  of  withering  fire  upon  the  wretched  land- 
scape, and  in  an  instant  the  whole  region,  for  miles  and 
miles  all  around,  is  covered  with  a  weird  shroud  and 
sinks  for  ages  into  death-like  stillness  ! 

But  troubled  Nature  has  not  exhausted  the  efforts  yet, 
by  which  she  seeks  relief  from  the  mysterious  suffering 
which  she  seems  to  undergo  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the 
earth.  From  the  crater's  brink,  or  from  a  sudden  open- 
ing in  the  sides  of  the  mountain,  there  comes  gushing 
forth  a  broad  stream  of  fiery  lava,  and  hurries,  as  in 
furious  madness,  down  the  steep  sides,  carrying  the 
torch  of  destruction  to  the  forests,  which  in  a  moment 
flare  up  in  a  bright  blaze,  to  fertile  fields,  changing 
them  instantly  from  lovely  pictures  of  peace  and  promise 
into  desolate  deserts,  to  lofty  walls  and  solid  mansions, 
which  crumble  and  fall  at  the  magic  touch,  never  to 
rise  again,  and  finally  to  the  silent  sea,  into  which  it  rolls 
its  fiery  waves  with  a  fearful  hissing  and  screeching, 
bringing  even  here  death  and  destruction  to  all  that  lives 
and  moves  in  the  life-teeming  waters. 

And,  as  if  the  measure  of  horrors  was  not  full  yet,  and 
overburdened  Nature  must  give  vent  in  new  forms  to 
its  unbearable  burden,  the  heavens  darken,  till  night 


332  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

covers  the  earth,  and  a  deluge  of  waters  descend  in  vast 
sheets,  flooding  the  fields  that  had  barely  begun  to 
breathe  once  more  freely,  and  mingling  in  horrible  friend- 
ship with  the  masses  of  black  ashes,  so  that  the  dark 
hideous  slime  rolls  in  slow,  but  irresistible  waves,  over 
town  and  village,  and  fills  cellars  and  rooms  and  streets 
and  the  very  temples  of  the  gods  with  its  death-bringing 
horror.  And  not  unfrequently  the  sea  rushes  up  to  meet 
in  fatal  embrace  the  waters  from  the  clouds ;  trembling 
under  the  weird  excitement  and  coming  up  in  fierce, 
spasmodic  jerks  as  the  convulsions  of  the  volcano  near- 
by shake  it  with  sympathetic  violence,  it  breaks  down 
the  ancient  landmarks  that  have  held  it  in  bounds  for 
countless  ages,  and  retreating  after  a  while  with  over- 
whelming violence,  it  bears  the  few  survivors  from  the 
fury  of  fire  into  the  fatal  abyss  of  the  ocean. 

Amid  such  horrors  the  bravest  of  men  loses  heart,  and 
with  all  his  heaven-appointed  powers  he  feels  like  a 
helpless  infant.  The  brutes  of  the  forest,  the  lion  and  the 
panther,  forget  their  nature,  and  come  from  their  dark 
dens  to  join  in  strange,  new-born  friendship,  the  flocks 
of  peaceful  cattle,  and  to  seek  with  them,  driven  by  an 
irresistible  instinct,  the  shelter  of  human  habitations 
and  the  protection  of  man.  Eagles  and  vultures  come 
down  from  their  unseen  paths  in  the  clouds  and  their 
lofty  eyries,  and  sit,  marvelling  and  trembling,  by  the 
side  of  pigeons  and  common  fowls  in  paradisaical  peace. 

It   is   this   uniq'Ue   and  uncontrollable  sensation,  felt 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  333 

when  the  material  world  makes  for  a  moment  its  full 
dominion  known,  and  claims  our  earth-born  nature  as  its 
own,  which  has,  no  doubt,  led,  from  of  old,  to  the  almost 
unvarying  creed  of  men,  that  the  world  will  come  to  an 
end  by  fire.  The  Chaldaeans,  it  is  true,  coupled  the 
power  of  water  with  that  of  the  burning  element,  and 
believed  that  the  world  would  be  destroyed  by  fire,  when 
all  the  stars  should  meet  in  the  constellation  of  Cancer, 
and  once  more  by  water  when  they  meet  in  the  con- 
stellation of  Capricorn.  The  Parsees,  worshippers  of  fire, 
have  a  similar  doctrine,  according  to  which  the  world  will 
last  twelve  thousand  years,  after  which  Ahriman,  the  Evil 
Spirit,  will  set  it  on  fire  by  means  of  a  comet,  and,  after 
a  thorough  purification,  re-create  it  with  Ormuzd,  the 
Spirit  of  Good.  Even  the  Orphic  poems,  of  which  noth- 
ing is  left  beyond  a  few  quotations  and  allusions,  are  said 
to  have  sung  of  the  end  of  winter  in  a  great  deluge,  and 
of  the  end  of  the  world's  summer  in  a  great  conflagra- 
tion. It  is  well  known,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Mo- 
saic Genesis,  based,  perhaps,  largely  upon  the  impression 
produced  by  the  annual  inundations  of  the  Nile,  admits 
of  only  one  creative  principle,  that  of  water,  which 
"  brought  forth  "  all  things  living  but  man,  and  hence 
laid  the  foundation  of  that  system  which  is  still  warmly 
defended  by  the  Neptunists  of  our  day. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  how,  in  a  similar  manner, 
the  Greek  Ileraclitus  drew  his  views  from  his  observation 
of  volcanic  symptoms,  and  based  upon  them  his  theory, 


334:  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

that  the  world  not  only  owed  its  origin  to  fire,  but  was 
to  be  periodically  purified  and  renewed  by  vast  conflagra- 
tions. Fire  was,  to  him,  the  only  unchanging  and 
everlasting  element,  and  to  its  benign  influences  he  was 
disposed  to  ascribe  all  that  befalls  our  globe  under  the 
direction  of  relentless  Fate. 

Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  same  impression  led 
originally  to  the  almost  sublime  conceptions  of  the  lower 
regions,  which  we  find  in  Hellenic  legends.  It  is  well 
known  that  they  placed  their  Tartarus  far  down  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth,  and  represented  it  as  an  enormous 
abyss  filled  with  eternal  fire.  The  very  position  of  the 
entrance  to  this  lower  world,  in  Southern  Italy,  points  to 
that  connection,  as  the  active  volcanoes  of  that  region 
had,  no  doubt,  originally  suggested  the  whole  concep- 
tion. Far  down,  below  those  favored  plains,  they  im- 
agined the  realm  of  Pluto,  and  looked  upon  Mount 
Vesuvius  and  Mount  Etna  as  the  colossal  chimneys, 
giving  vent  to  the  smoke  of  the  fire  at  which  the  Cyclops 
were  forever  busy  forging  the  lightnings  of  Jupiter. 
How  deeply  rooted  these  fantastic  and  yet  beautiful  no- 
tions were  in  the  minds  of  nations,  we  may  judge  from 
the  fact  that  two  hundred  years  after  the  rise  of  our 
faith  the  Roman  historian,  Dion  Cassius,  could  still 
soberly  speak  of  enormous  giants  rising  from  Mount 
Vesuvius,  and  scattering,  amid  the  appalling  sound  of 
infernal  trumpets,  ashes  and  rocks  over  the  blooming 
fields  of  Campania  and  the  fair  cities  of  Pompeii  and 


THE  EAETH  ra  TROUBLE.  335 

Herculaneum  !  Our  own  Christian  faith,  finally,  teaches 
us  of  the  final  destruction  of  our  globe  by  the  same  ter- 
rible agent,  when  "  the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a 
great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent 
heat ;  the  earth  also,  and  all  the  works  therein,  shall  be 
burned  up." 

If  it  is  strange  to  see  how  universal  this  fire  worship 
is,  which  ascribes  to  this  element,  above  all  others,  the 
power  to  create  and  to  destroy  our  world,  it  is  not  less 
striking  to  observe  to  what  eccentric  views  the  same 
conviction  has  led  both  ancient  and  modern  inquirers. 
Thus  Aristotle  even  was  fond  of  imagining  that  the  earth 
might  be  a  living  being,  which  changed  like  man  on  the 
surface,  only  at  much  longer  intervals.  He  knew  per- 
fectly well  that  certain  portions  of  land  would  gradually 
be  covered  with  water,  while  parts  of  the  sea  would  be 
laid  bare  and  change  into  fertile  lands  ;  he  knew  equally 
well  the  origin  of  volcanic  islands,  and  describes  correctly 
the  sudden  rise  of  Hiera,  in  the  Pontus,  which  was  born 
amid  a  fearful  upheaving  of  the  earth,  its  bursting  open 
in  the  shape  of  a  great  crater,  and  the  subsequent  lifting 
up  of  a  high  mountain.  All  these  phenomena  were,  to 
him,  evidence  of  the  inner  life  of  the  earth,  which,  he 
thought,  manifested  itself  mainly  by  fire.  Strabo  went 
even  beyond  him,  and  while  ascribing,  with  his  illustrious 
predecessor,  all  earthquakes  to  the  efforts  made  by 
masses  of  heated  air  within  te  break  through  the  crust 
of  the  earth,  he  discerned  the  correct  origin  of  the  great 


336  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

changes  on  the  surface,  and,  for  instance,  saw  in  Sicily 
only  a  portion  of  the  main  land,  which  had  been  detached 
from  it  by  a  violent  volcanic  upheaving. 

The  Romans  did  nothing  for  the  better  knowledge  of 
Nature;  their  thoughts  were  exclusively  given  to  the 
Empire,  and  social  problems  monopolized  their  attention. 
For  centuries,  therefore,  natural  science  made  no  progress, 
and  earthquakes  were  readily  ascribed  to  rebellions  in 
the  demon  world  below,  and  volcanic  eruptions  to  the 
impatience  of  chained  spirits.  Then  came  the  rule  of 
Neptune,  when  Vulcan  was  dethroned  for  a  time,  and 
all  the  great  symptoms  of  life,  which  our  mother  Earth 
gives  forth  from  time  to  time,  were  explained  by  the 
agency  of  water.  Descartes  was  the  first  philosopher 
bold  enough  to  leave  the  beaten  track,  and  to  plead  once 
more  the  cause  of  fire ;  he  openly  declared  his  conviction, 
that  the  earth  had  once  been  a  fiery  meteor,  like  so  many 
others,  fragments  of  that  original  solid  matter  which  had 
been  set  in  furious  motion  by  an  Almighty  hand,  and 
when  heated  by  the  terrible  velocity  with  which  it  re- 
volved in  infinite  space,  divided  into  suns  and  stars. 
His  doctrine  was,  that  the  crust  of  the  earth  had  after- 
wards gradually  cooled  off,  but  that  in  the  interior  there 
was  still  a  vast  central  fire,  which  every  now  and  then 
spontaneously  bursts  forth  in  eruptions  and  earthquakes. 

The  greater  philosophers  of  later  ages  followed  in  the 
wake  of  Descartes,  without  adding  strength  to  his  argu- 
ments or  facts  to  support  his  theory ;  it  was  only  when 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  337 

the  three  great  naturalists,  Pallas,  Saussure,  and  Wer- 
ner, collected  a  number  of  carefully-made  observations, 
that  speculation  was  changed  into  conviction,  and  bril- 
liant suggestions  were  tried  and  proved  in  the  alembic 
of  stern  logic. 

They  did  not  change  the  original  theory,  but  established 
it  on  a  solid  basis.  They  found,  what  we  still  believe, 
that  the  sea  of  liquid  fire  beneath  the  thin  crust  of  the 
earth,  on  which  we  dwell  with  fancied  security,  is  in  a 
state  of  perpetual  excitements,  and  hence  continually 
presses  or  rises  against  the  surface.  When  it  touches  it, 
we  have  an  earthquake  ;  when  it  is  sufficiently  excited 
to  break  through  the  crust,  it  forms  a  volcano. 

According  to  the  most  recent  theories,  however,  an- 
other new  element  has  been  added  to  these  explanations 
of  the  inner  life  of  our  earth.  We  have  learnt  that  it  is 
not  fire  simply,  which  produces  the  agitations,  but  the 
same  power  which  raises  the  waters  of  the  ocean  at  regu- 
lar intervals.  It  is  well  known  that  the  tides  are  the  ef- 
fect of  the  attraction  exercised  by  sun  and  moon,  and  that 
they  are  highest  in  the  form  of  spring  tides,  when  sun  and 
moon  combine  to  attract  the  waters.  It  is  believed,  now, 
that  the  liquid  matter  in  the  interior  of  the  earth  obeys  the 
same  laws  of  attraction,  and  rises  and  falls  with  the  outer 
liquid,  as  the  crust  of  the  earth  is,  relatively  speaking,  a 
mere  thin  covering,  unable  seriously  to  diminish,  much 
less  to  check,  the  powers  of  attraction  exercised  by  the 
two  great  heavenly  bodies.  This  view  is  confirmed  by 


338  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

the  fact  that  earthquakes  are  most  frequent  when  the 
tides  are  highest.  Volcanic  eruptions  are,  of  course, 
effects  of  the  same  commotion  below;  they  only  save 
vast  regions  of  land  and  water  from  being  thus  con- 
vulsed, by  offering  an  open  vent  to  the  gases  developed 
below. 

All  this  newly  acquired  knowledge,  however,  does  not 
yet  help  us  to  avert  the  fearful  destruction  which  generally 
follows  the  outbreaks  of  the  hidden  power  within  the 
earth.  In  vain  do  we. pee  vast  plains  laid  waste  forever 
by  the  death-bringing  substances  ejected  from  hideous 
mud-volcanoes  ;  in  vain  do  towering  mountains  rise  where 
formerly  the  eye  swept  over  level  lands  as  far  as  it  could 
reach  ;  in  vain,  even,  do  we  descend  to  towns  which  once 
overflowed  with  life  and  exulted  in  their  splendor,  and 
which  now  are  sad  and  silent,  buried  for  ages  and  ages 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth.  At  each  new  return  of 
the  terrible  calamities  attendant  on  such  convulsions,  we 
stand  anew  aghast,  and  feel  how  utterly  helpless  we  are, 
how  -utterly  ignorant  even  of  Him  who  "  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  the  earth,"  and  who  alone  knows  "  whereupon 
are  the  foundations  thereof  fastened,  or  who  1-aid  the  cor- 
ner-stone thereof,  when  the  morning  stars  sang  together, 
and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 

So  we  have  felt  again  during  the  present  year.  For 
our  mother  Earth  has  been  in  great  trouble  during  the 
last  twelve  months,  and  perhaps  it  may  not  be  amiss 
briefly  to  record  here  the  symptoms  which  make  us  aware 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  339 

of  the  terrible  commotion  which  has  apparently  destroyed 
the  peace  ordinarily  reigning  within  our  globe. 

Earthquakes  have  taken  place  in  the  West  Indies  and 
in  South  America,  such  as  belong  to  the  most  terrific 
catastrophes  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the  earth's  his- 
tory. Since  the  day  on  which  Lisbon  was  swallowed  up 
with  thousands  of  helpless  victims,  and  the  calamity  at 
Lima  in  1746,  since  the  South  American  coasts  were  de- 
vastated in  1797,  and  Caracas  was  utterly  destroyed  in 
1812,  no  such  overwhelming  misfortune  has  befallen  that 
doomed  locality. 

The  air,  we  are  told,  had  been  for  several  days  so  hot 
and  oppressive  that  experienced  natives  foretold  a  vol- 
canic eruption.  On  the  16th  of  August  (1868)  news  was 
received  in  Valparaiso,  that  in  several  ports  of  Chili  the 
sea  had  risen  and  overwhelmed  the  coast  for  fifteen  miles, 
so  as  to  wash  away  houses  and  magazines,  and  to  land  ves- 
sels high  and  dry  far  inland.  Three  days  before  the  earth 
had  begun  to  heave,  and  regular  earthquakes  had  taken 
place  at  Callao,  returning  at  intervals  of  five  minutes. 
Enormous  crevices  opened,  houses  fell,  churches  crum- 
bled to  pieces,  and  men  and  brutes  alike  were  frightened 
by  the  unseen  enemy.  The  whole  West  coast,  as  far  as 
high  up  in  Peru,  was  thus  shaken,  and  at  various  places 
the  sea  had  made  inroads  upon  the  firm  land.  At  the 
very  first  shock  a  number  of  towns  in  the  interior  were 
levelled  with  the  ground,  and  ancient  cathedrals,  that  had 
stood  like  unchangeable  landmarks  for  hundreds  of  years, 


340  WONDEKS    OF   THE   DEEP. 

were  changed  into  heaps  of  ruins  and  rubbish.  More 
than  thirty  thousand  human  beings  perished  in  a  day, 
and  the  loss  in  material  and  merchandise  is  beyond  all 
calculation.  An  enormous  spring  tide  followed  the  earth- 
quake, and  overwhelming  the  frail  bulwarks  of  a  low 
coast,  flooded  the  land  far  into  the  interior.  Large  ves- 
sels were  thrown  from  their  anchorage,  and  landed  far 
up  the  country.  A  second  gigantic  wave,  stretching  a 
hundred  miles  north  and  south,  rose  from  the  ocean,  and 
fell  with  crushing  power  upon  the  ill-fated  coast.  Three 
war  steamers  were  thus  destroyed  at  Arica  alone  ;  among 
these  our  own  ships,  the  "  Wateree"  and  the  "Fredonia," 
the  latter  with  nearly  every  soul  on  board.  An  English 
steamer,  the  "  Santiago,"  escaped  by  a  marvel.  She  was 
apparently  secure,  riding  on  two  powerful  anchors ;  but 
suddenly  a  concussion  was  felt,  which  made  the  large 
ship  twist  and  turn  as  if  she  were  made  of  India  rubber. 
All  the  passengers  were  tossed  up  to  the  height  of  two 
feet,  and  then  fell  flat  down ;  at  the  same  moment  the 
heavy  cables  snapped  as  if  they  were  thin  wires,  and  the 
vessel  was  swept  by  a  receding  wave  into  the  sea.  For- 
tunately, they  had  steam  up,  and  tried  to  gain  the  offing ; 
but  the  next  moment  a  second  wave  came,  and  drove  her 
irresistibly  towards  the  rocky  shore.  All  faces  were 
deadly  pale,  and  the  captain  gave  up  all  hope.  But  oh, 
wonder !  the  wave  lifted  the  ship  high  up,  and  safely  car- 
ried her  on  her  gigantic  shoulders  across  the  rocky  bar- 
rier, letting  her  gently  down  into  an  adjoining  bay,  from 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  341 

which  she  could  subsequently  escape  into  the  open  sea ! 
Where  the  town  of  Chala  stood,  the  ocean  now  floats 
heavy  vessels,  and  Iquique  was  destroyed  first  by  an 
earthquake,  which  lasted  uninterruptedly  for  four  minutes, 
and  then  by  a  wave  of  sixty  feet  height,  which  suddenly 
approached  the  land  like  a  solid  wall,  and  then  fell, 
crushing  all  that  it  found  in  its  way,  together  with  more 
than  a  hundred  men.  Arica  was  so  utterly  destroyed, 
that  even  the  places  where  certain  prominent  houses  had 
stood  could  no  more  be  found ;  and  the  unfettered  fury 
of  the  waves  had  lifted  up  heavy  guns,  and  borne  them 
scornfully  from  an  island  battery,  far  out  at  sea,  to  distant 
inland  hills.  But  the  concussion  itself  extended  far  be- 
yond the  usual  limits.  Most  powerful,  as  was  natural, 
in  the  centre  of  the  commotion,  the  volcanic  region  near 
Arequipas,  where  the  famous  group  of  snow-covered  vol- 
canoes form  so  striking  a  feature  of  the  landscape,  it  was 
felt  for  a  distance  of  six  hundred  miles,  both  of  latitude 
and  of  longitude.  Electric  lights  were  seen  in  the  air  at 
different  places — an  entirely  new  phenomenon,  not  hither- 
to observed  in  connection  with  such  events — and  even 
the  famous  Tambo  d'Apo,  a  house  of  refuge  on  the  very 
summit  of  the  Cordilleras,  was  so  violently  shaken  as  to 
crumble  into  dust. 

It  appears,  however,  upon  a  careful  sifting  of  the  evi- 
dence, that,  after  all,  the  earthquake  itself  did  less  harm 
than  the  sea.  The  enormous  waves,  which  disobeyed  the 
command,  "  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further,  and 


342  "VVONDEKS    OF   THE    DEEP. 

here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed ! "  carried  utter 
destruction  wherever  they  touched  man,  or  the  work  of 
man.  Houses  and  churches,  fields  and  forests,  all  were 
literally  swept  away,  islands  disappeared,  mountains  were 
levelled,  and  dire  desolation  imprinted  on  the  scene  of 
abundant  prosperity.  But  the  worst  was,  as  ever,  the 
passion  of  man,  unchained  at  a  moment  when  the  fury 
of  the  elements  seemed  likewise  to  be  unfettered.  Acci- 
dent in  some  cases,  fell  purpose  in  many  more,  set  fire  to 
buildings,  and  soon  large  portions  of  the  doomed  towns 
were  ravaged  by  fire  and  water  alike  !  The  excited  pop- 
ulace fell  with  savage  eagerness  upon  the  stores  of  liquor 
exposed  in  cellars  and  warehouses,  and  soon  hell  itself 
seemed  to  be  let  loose.  The  scenes  enacted  in  some  of 
the  unfortunate  towns  are  beyond  the  powers  of  descrip- 
tion ;  men  beastly  drunk  lay  by  the  side  of  those  they 
had  murdered,  and  the  demoniac  powers  of  the  earth, 
set  free  by  an  unknown  hand  for  a  moment,  seemed  to 
have  roused  with  fearful  success  the  demoniac  instincts 
in  the  heart  of  man. 

These  terrible  occurrences  were  soon  followed  by  simi- 
lar calamities  in  the  northern  part  of  our  Continent.  An 
enormous  spring  tide,  on  the  15th  of  August,  terrified 
the  people  on  the  Californian  coast,  rising  to  a  height  of 
over  sixty  feet,  and  washing  away  fields  and  gardens  for 
miles.  The  earthquakes  of  Peru  seemed  gradually  to 
have  worked  their  way  northward ;  for  in  the  middle  of 
October  heavy  commotions  were  felt,  and  on  the  twenty- 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  343 

first  a  violent  earthquake  shook  San  Francisco.  The 
eastern  part  of  the  city  was  sorely  tried ;  many  houses 
fell,  others  cracked  from  the  foundation  to  the  roof,  and 
hardly  one  could  be  found  that  had  not  suffered  some  in- 
jury. As  the  shocks  continued,  all  business  was  sus- 
pended, and  a  few  cases  of  death  soon  caused  universal 
consternation.  Half  of  the  population  ran  into  the 
streets,  but  here  also  danger  and  death  even  lay  in 
waiting ;  for  in  several  districts  the  earth  opened,  and 
jets  of  water  leaped  up  to  a  height  of  several  feet,  while 
in  other  places  the  ground  suddenly  sank  several  inches. 
All  the  clocks  stopped  at  the  moment  of  the  first  shock, 
and  the  telegraphic  wires  were  so  much  injured  that  no 
communication  could  be  had  for  some  time.  The  City 
Hall  was  a  complete  ruin ;  the  courts  could  not  sit,  and 
the  prisoners  were  sent  to  the  county  jail ;  the  patients 
at  the  navy  hospitals  had  to  be  removed,  and  the  Mint 
was  closed,  until  it  could  be  fully  repaired.  Here,  also,  the 
shocks  extended  to  a  very  unusual  distance  far  inland  ; 
and  as  they  were  felt  at  sea  by  sailors,  who  for  a  moment 
thought  the  vessel  had  touched  a  submarine  rock,  so  they 
amazed  miners  in  the  interior,  who  expressed  naively 
their  indignation  at  such  ';  indecent  behavior  of  the  old 
Earth." 

The  Pacific  Ocean  had  a  large  share  of  the  fearful 
commotion  which  caused  such  sad  destruction  on  the 
adjoining  Continent.  Already  in  March  a  hundred 
earthquake  shocks  had  been  felt  in  the  volcanic  island  of 


344  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

Hawaii,  connected  with  an  unusually  violent  eruption  of 
the  far-famed  Mauna  Loa.  Here  also  the  earth  opened 
in  many  places,  and  a  tidal  wave,  sixty  feet  high,  rose 
over  the  tops  of  lofty  cocoa  trees,  and  swept  houses  and 
gardens,  cattle  and  human  beings  before  it  with  irresisti- 
ble violence.  A  terrible  shock  prostrated  houses  and 
churches,  while  the  crater  of  the  great  volcano  was 
vomiting  fire,  rocks,  and  lava,  and  a  river  of  red-hot  lava 
flowed  for  nearly  six- miles  to  the  sea,  destroying  every- 
thing before  it,  and  forming  a  new  island  far  out  in  the 
ocean.  In  April,  still  more  violent  shocks  occurred, 
during  which  the  swinging  motion  of  the  earth  was  so 
dreadful  that  no  person  could  stand,  and  old  and  young 
were  made  deadly  sick.  At  the  same  time  tall  hills 
were  upheaved,  and  the  tops  detached,  being  thrown 
down  into  the  valleys  below,  while  out  at  sea  new  islands 
arose,  several  hundred  feet  high,  and  emitted  for  days  a 
column  of  steam  and  smoke. 

A  few  months  before  similar  phenomena  had  been 
noticed  in  British  East  India.  Earthquakes  were  felt, 
though  only  slightly,  in  various  districts  of  the  northern 
provinces,  and  what  was  most  curious,  they  seemed  to  be 
strictly  limited  to  a  narrow  line  running  northeastward. 
In  one  region,  near  Chindwana,  an  entirely  new  feature 
was  superadded  to  the  more  familiar  horrors  of  such 
catastrophes.  Each  shock  was  preceded  by  a  heavy 
detonation,  as  if  a  whole  park  of  artillery  had  been  prac- 
ticing in  the  neighborhood.  Special  agents  were  de- 


THE  EAETH  ra  TROUBLE.  345 

spatched  to  observe  the  phenomenon,  which  the  natives 
had  reported  for  several  months  already,  and  they  heard 
the  same  noise,  and  felt  immediately  afterwards  the  usual 
vertigo  produced  by  slighter  earthquakes. 

Europe  has  escaped  these  disasters,  with  the  exception 
of  such  slight  shocks  as  were  felt,  at  intervals,  in  the 
United  States  also,  but  without  producing  any  other 
impression  than  that  of  a  very  unusual  state  of  commo- 
tion in  the  interior  of  the  earth.  Premonitory  symp- 
toms had  shown  themselves  already  in  the  preceding 
year  (1866)  in  the  Azores,  when  violent  earthquakes 
shook  the  islands,  and  the  sea  rose,  between  Terceira 
and  Graicoas,  amid  terrific  detonations,  and  cast  up  jets 
of  water  to  an  enormous  height.  In  June,  stones  began 
to  be  mingled  with  the  vapors,  and  the  amazed  specta- 
tors beheld  the  ocean  in  commotion,  throwing  up  enor- 
mous blocks  of  stone  amid  dense  vapors,  and  emitting  so 
strong  a  sulphurous  odor  that  it  could  be  borne  only 
with  great  difficulty  near  the  shore.  It  is  probable  that 
the  old  world  was  saved  the  fatal  effects  of  violent 
earthquakes  by  the  readiness  of  Mt.  Vesuvius  to  give 
egress  to  the  rebellious  powers  from  below.  The  an- 
cient volcano  had,  early  in  the  year  1868,  already  given 
signs  of  increased  activity,  and  whilst  the  flow  of  lava 
had  ceased,  the  last-formed  cone  began  to  give  out  thick 
black  clouds  of  smoke,  in  which  brilliantly  glowing 
masses  of  rock  were  occasionally  seen.  On  the  first  day 

of  October  the  marvellously  ingenious  instruments  de- 
15* 


346  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

vised  by  Lament,  began  to  indicate  a  disturbance  below 
the  soil,  and  a  displacement  of  the  surface,  and  the  vol- 
cano became  noisier  than  before.  A  small  cone  opened 
next,  at  the  side,  from  the  summit  to  the  base,  and  lava 
issued  forth,  covering  the  former  summit  of  Vesuvius. 
It  was  here,  for  the  first  time,  that  the  renowned  director 
of  the  Seis  observatory,  Palmieri,  observed  the  periodic 
nature  of  these  volcanic  eruptions.  Each  day  the  lava 
would  cease  to  flow  at  certain  hours,  and  begin  anew 
after  a  short  interval ;  twice  a  day,  also,  the  active  cone 
would  make  an  increased  noise,  and  throw  out  its  pro- 
jectiles with  greater  violence.  The  correspondence  thus 
shown  between  the  volcanic  ebb  and  tide  and  that  of  the 
sea  was  still  further  illustrated  by  other  changes  in  the 
flow  of  lava,  by  certain  phenomena  occurring  at  greater 
intervals,  which  careful  observation  proved  to  take  place 
in  unfailing  sympathy  with  the  motions  of  the  moon. 

In  November,  the  mountain  became  highly  excited. 
The  streams  of  lava  grew  to  larger  dimensions.  It  was 
not,  as  is  commonly  imagined,  a  glowing,  fluid  mass,  but 
appeared  like  a  stone  wall,  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet 
high,  consisting  of  vast  blocks  of  stone,  which  were 
partly  black  and  partly  glowing  deep  red,  and  this  wall 
was  borne  on  high  by  the  liquid,  burning  lava  under- 
neath, and  pushed  continually  forward  by  the  immense 
weight  of  the  fiery  mass  that  issued  forth  from  the  cone. 
Aided  by  the  slope  of  the  mountain  side,  it  advanced 
visibly  some  two  or  three  feet  a  minute,  threatening 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  347 

death  and  destruction  to  all  that  stood  in  the  way.  A 
traveller,  Mr.  Boernstein,  gives  an  animated  description 
of  a  characteristic  scene  in  its  fearful  progress.  He  had 
ascended  the  mountain  as  far  as  the  Casa  del  prete,  the 
priest's  house,  which  was  on  the  point  of  being  over- 
whelmed by  the  stream  of  lava,  now  nearly  four  hundred 
feet  wide, 

It  stood  in  the  centre  of  a  noble  vineyard.  The  fur- 
niture, and  all  that  could  be  saved,  had  been  carried 
away ;  the  old  priest,  in  a  roundabout  and  shorts,  with 
nothing  but  his  velvet  skull-cap  to  designate  him  as  a 
priest,  was  hard  at  work,  with  the  help  of  a  few  men,  to 
pull  up  the  stakes  to  which  the  vines  were  fastened,  in 
order  to  save  them  at  least  for  fuel.  His  black  dog  was 
continually  running  towards  the  house,  barking  anxiously, 
and  then  returning  to  his  master,  barking  at  him  and 
pulling  at  him,  as  if  he  wished  to  warn  him  against  the 
impending  danger.  For  the  terrible  wall  of  hidden  fire 
was  within  a  foot  of  the  parsonage.  It  was  empty  and 
deserted ;  only  a  pet  cat  was  sitting  comfortably  on  the 
sill  of  the  upper  story,  to  which  an  outer  staircase  gave 
access.  The  priest  had  just  cast  a  last  sorrowful  look  at 
his  house,  against  the  thick  stone  wall  of  which  the  lava 
was  slowly  rising  higher  and  higher,  and  in  his  heart  was 
bidding  farewell  to  his  home,  where  he  had  lived  ever 
since  he  had  been  a  priest.  His  eye  fell  upon  the  cat. 
"  Save  the  poor  creature !  "  he  cried,  and  one  of  the 
men  hastened  up  the  steps ;  but  the  cat,  frightened  by 


348  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

the  strange  face,  ran  swiftly  into  the  house,  and  at  the 
same  moment  the  stream  of  lava,  overtopping  the  house 
by  several  feet,  fell  over  forward  and  poured  a  sea  of 
flames  upon  the  flat  roof.  The  man  on  the  steps  leaped 
with  a  desperate  effort  to  the  ground ;  the  priest  and  the 
by-standers  crossed  themselves ;  thick,  black  clouds  of 
smoke  poured  forth  from  the  windows ;  and  a  few  min- 
utes later  the  whole  stately  building  had  vanished,  and  a 
huge  mass  of  glowing  blocks  of  lava  was  steadily  flow- 
ing over  the  place,  that  knew  it  no  more. 

At  night  the  stream  presents  a  glorious  sight.  Dark 
in  broad  daylight,  it  now  appears  an  ocean  of  fire,  slowly 
advancing  with  irresistible  power ;  and  from  its  waves, 
as  high  as  tall  houses,  there  fall  continually  huge  glow- 
ing blocks  with  a  fearful  crash,  and  roll  down  the  preci- 
pices with  terrific  thunder.  If  it  approaches  a  tree, 
there  is  a  moment's  delay,  and  immediately  the  leaves, 
dried  by  the  fearful  heat,  blaze  up  like  a  thousand  lights 
on  a  huge  Christmas  tree ;  then  the  trunk  flares  up  in  a 
pillar  of  fire,  and  the  crown  sinks  into  the  fiery  sea. 
From  time  to  time  the  glowing  mass  of  the  lava  stream 
heaves  and  rises ;  suddenly  a  loud  explosion  is  heard, 
and  an  immense  column  of  bright  fire  shoots  high  up  to 
the  heavens — pent-up  gases  have  freed  themselves  and 
exploded  in  the  fiery  heat.  Or  the  stream  falls  into  a 
well ;  the  water  is  instantly  converted  into  steam,  and  a 
white  pillar  of  hissing  vapor  rises  on  high. 

While  Mount  Vesuvius  was  thus  relieving  the  Earth 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  349 

in  trouble,  certain  phenomena  of  smaller  dimensions,  but 
perhaps  of  greater  interest  even,  were  engaging  the 
attention  of  the  learned  world.  In  the  first  days  of  the 
year  1866  the  inhabitants  of  Santorin,  an  island  in  the 
Grecian  Archipelago,  had  seen  with  amazement  a  part 
of  their  bay  converted  into  a  sea  of  fire.  It  was  not  that 
they  had  not  witnessed  the  like  before.  Their  own  home 
is  the  result  of  a  sudden  upheaving  of  the  bottom  of  the 
sea,  and  from  time  immemorial  their  bay  has  been  the 
scene  of  fantastic  transformations.  The  ancients  spoke 
with  awe  of  the  strange  changes  that  took  place  there — 
the  island  of  Anaphi,  now  called  Nanfi,  rose  at  the  bid- 
ding of  Apollo  from  the  lowest  deep ;  Pliny  mentions 
fearful  convulsions,  which  marked  the  year  19  of  our  era, 
and  ever  since  new  islets  have  appeared  and  vanished 
again  in  the  adjoining  waters.  NOW,  for  nearly  a  year, 
subterranean  thunders  had  been  heard,  and  at  the  time 
mentioned  tremendous  explosions  took  place,  red  flames 
rose  to  the  height  of  ten  and  twenty  feet  from  the  sea 
itself,  and  a  few  days  later  a  new  island  ascended 
slowly,  and  grew  visibly  from  hour  to  hour.  The  sum- 
mit had  the  shape  of  a  cone,  and  threw  out  an  unceasing 
supply  of  stones,  slime,  and  fire.  During  the  following 
days,  more  islets  presented  themselves,  and  finally  joined 
together,  by  means  of  the  vast  masses  of  half-fluid  mate- 
rial that  continued  to  flow  from  the  crater.  These  new 
lands  were  nothing  else  but  the  summit  of  an  immense 
volcano,  which  rested  with  its  base  on  the  bottom  of  the 


c 


350  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

sea,  while  the  summit,  now  for  the  first  time,  saw  the 
light  of  day. 

The  power  of  man  to  accustom  himself  to  any  and 
every  condition  in  which  he  finds  himself  placed,  is 
strikingly  illustrated  by  the  ten  or  twelve  thousand  in- 
habitants of  Santorin.  For  three  years  now  they  have 
been  living  amid  a  continuous  cannonade,  surrounded 
by  a  sea  on  fire,  and  a  volcano  before  their  eyes,  which 
does  not  cease  day  and  night  to  throw  out  fiery  projec- 
tiles amid  heavy  detonations.  Jets  of  vapor  are  sent  up 
to  a  height  of  five  thousand  feet,  and  a  perpetual  fire  illu- 
mines the  top  of  Mount  George  I.,  as  the  new  island  has 
since  been  called.  Italian  and  Austrian  engineers  and 
savans  from  other  countries,  have  been  sent  there  to 
watch  the  extraordinary  scene,  and  they  report  that  the 
new  island  has  risen  already  to  a  height  of  nearly  five 
hundred  feet,  while  it  is  still  steadily  increasing  towards 
Santorin.  If  the  work  continues  at  the  same  rate,  the 
little  kingdom  of  Greece  has  found  out  a  cheaper  means 
to  increase  its  territory  than  the  costly  and  dangerous 
process  of  annexation.  On  the  other  hand,  the  appre- 
hension has  been  expressed  that  in  the  bay  of  Santorin 
the  waters  of  the  sea  may  be  deep  enough  to  come  in 
actual  contact  with  the  sea  of  fire  in  the  interior  of  the 
earth,  and  that  a  fearful  catastrophe  may  yet  prove  the 
old  Greek  doctrine  of  Hades  and  its  horrors. 

Whatever  may  be  the  true  explanation  of  all  these 
grave  disturbances  on  our  planet,  whether  we  ascribe 


THE  EARTH  IN  TROUBLE.  351 

them,  with  the  Neptunists,  to  the  ebullition  of  heated 
waters,  which  seek  an  outlet,  or  with  the  Vulcanists,  to 
the  efforts  of  a  sea  of  fire  to  break  through  the  thin  crust, 
arid  to  hasten  the  day  of  final  destruction,  we  cannot 
close  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  our  mother  Earth  is  evi- 
dently in  trouble.  But  let  us  not  blame  her  if  blooming 
landscapes  are  laid  waste,  towns  overthrown,  and  human 
lives  sacrificed  by  hecatombs.  The  loss  is  great,  the 
calamity  appalling,  but  it  is  the  price  paid  by  a  few  for 
the  security  of  the  race.  If  the  craters  of  volcanoes  did 
not  offer  an  opening  to  the  pent-up  vapors  in  the  interior 
of  the  earth,  and  allow  the  terrific  power  of  confined 
steam,  with  which  we  have  of  late  become  familiar  in 
making  steam  our  servant,  we  would  not  be  able  to  live 
on  the  earth.  They  are,  as  already  Alexander  von  Hum- 
boldt  asserted,  the  safety  valves,  which  allow  the  steam 
to  escape,  and  the  heated  vapors  within  to  regain  their 
equilibrium  with  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere ;  and  it 
is  thanks  to-  them  only,  perhaps,  we  owe,  that  we  are 
enabled,  by  God's  mercy,  to  enjoy  our  life  on  earth, 
although  we  dwell  on  a  thin,  frail  crust,  over  an  ocean 
of  molten  fire ! 


THE   END. 


n  Hist  of  tfy  $u*ltation0 

OF 

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G.  P.  PUTNAM  &  SON,  NEW  YORK. 


PUTNAM'S  MAGAZINE. 

NEW  SERIES— THREE  VOLS.  COMPLETED. 


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preciate a  high  order  of  merit  in  literature." —  *  *  Albany  Evening  Journal. 

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kept  pace  with  the  constant  growth  of  the  literature  of  the  period." — Norivalk 
Gazette. 


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First   Volume  Now  Ready  of  the  New  Revised  Edition  of 
THE  LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF 

WASHINGTON    IRVING. 

EDITED  BY  PIERRE  M.  IRVING. 

New  Edition,  Revised  and  Condensed  by  the  Author  into  3  Volumes,  for  tht 
Knickerbocker,  tfiverside,  and  People's  Edition  of  fits  Works. 


"THAT  MODEL  AMONG  MODERN  BIOGRAPHIES,  PIERRE  M.   IRVING'S  LIFE  OK 

WASHINGTON  IRVING."— Boston  Post. 
"  He  makes  him  tell  the  story  of  his  life  in  his  own  charming  way." — Portland 

Transcript. 

'  An  exceedingly  attractive  book." — Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 
'  One  of  the  most  delightful  publications  of  the  day  in  which  we  live." — Ledger. 
'An  indispensable  occupant  of  every  man's  book-shelves." — Albany  Statesman. 
'These  letters  have  a  fascination  peculiar  to  themselves." — Chicago  Christ.  Timer 
1  It  h»'  "He  attraction  of  romance  and  reality  combined." — New  Yorker. 

ENGLISH  CRITICISM. 
From  a  review  of  this  work  in  a  London  paper,  we  take  the  following 

paragraph : — 

"  Nobody  tells  a  story  or  an  anecdote  better  than  IRVING  ;  he 
tells  them  here  in  great  plenty,  and  they  give  a  continual  zest  to  the 
curiosity  which  the  prince  of  narrators  excites  and  gratifies.  The 
work  often  reminds  the  English  reader  of  BOSWELL,  LOCKHART, 
and  MOORE — spinning  the  threads  of  great  men's  lives  by  that  happy 
mixture  of  what  they  did  with  what  they  said.  The  noble  writer, 
whose  generous  hand  has  prepared  for  all  succeeding  ages  the  memo- 
rials of  COLUMBUS  and  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  has  found  in  his 
nephew,  Mr.  PIERRE  M.  IRVING,  a  competent  BOSWELL  to  embalm 
his  own  fame.  Second  to  no  author  of  his  time,  in  America  or  out 
of  it,  and  only  to  be  named  with  that  small  band  of  leading  spirits 
who  are  the  surviving  symbols  of  a  generation  descending  into  history, 
WASHINGTON  IRVING,  the  great  and  amiable  wit,  has  now  taken  his 
place  forever  in  the  front  line  with  SCOTT,  BYRON,  COOPER,  MOORE, 
and  CHATEAUBRIAND.  If  after-times  shall  ever  again  produce  his 
match,  it  must  be  by  studying  such  books  as  the  witching  ones  he  has 
left  for  the  amusement  and  instruction  of  his  fellow-men." 

KNICKERBOCKER  Edition   (vol.  i  in  October),  3  vols.          87.50 

RIVERSIDE  "  "  "  5-25 

PEOPLE'S  3.75 

Second  Volume  in  November,  Third  Volume  in  December. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM  &  SON,  PUBLISHERS, 

661  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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28 


"JAN  B4  1941 


LD  21-100m-12, '43  (8796s) 


3  t, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRAR' 


